


Riley's Time

by N7SpaceHamster



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Romance, Time Jumping, Time Travel, Vortex Manipulator, Well slow building romance, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-07 00:59:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8776801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N7SpaceHamster/pseuds/N7SpaceHamster
Summary: Waking up with her memories wiped and no recollection of who she is or where she's from, Riley's only hope for regaining her past with with the mystery man who has become strangely intertwined with her timeline: the Doctor. With each adventure, she gets one step closer to finding out her true self but slowly deciphers that some memories best remain forgotten.





	1. Prologue - The Beginning of the End

She’s never run so fast in her life. 

Doors and windows blurred past as she sprinted, desperately trying to catch up to her friends. They wouldn’t leave her behind, or at least she hoped, but she didn’t want her slowness to be the cause of their demise. The constantly blaring siren and flashing red lights didn’t exactly scream undercover mission despite that being part of the original plan. Of course, the constant earthquake rumblings and mass hysteria outside the building also added to the severity of the situation and was a reminder that the original plan was far gone.

This place was falling apart and they needed to get out.

_ Now. _

She sharply turned a corner, tripping over the floor that started to crack underneath her feet. The walls were similarly fractured and the rumbling grew increasingly louder. Not letting up her pace, she quickly regained her footing and pushed on.

“Riley, come on! You have to run faster!” The warning screamed in her ear through the tiny hidden receiver. She swore he turned up the volume on purpose. 

“You think I don’t know that?!” she harshly snapped. Did they think she was taking a stroll through the park? Did she leave her picnic basket behind? “I’m running as fast as-“

A loud sound cut her off, the energy bullet narrowly missing her head and hitting the wall at the end of the hall.  The laser blast impact caused a small explosion, sending shrapnel flying through the hallway. Riley covered her face, feeling some pieces hitting her jacket, but kept on running. More laser blasts flew past her, causing more and more cracks to form along the hallways. If she didn’t get out soon, she would be buried under however many floors of rubble or pulverized by a high concentration of energy.

At the moment, she preferred neither. 

She abruptly turned, opening a door before roughly closing it behind her and pressing a button on the keypad to the left. A satisfying click echoed through the chamber, safely locking the door. Riley briefly smiled, hearing the men bang against the door and attempt to blast it down but knew she was safe for the time being. She had at least 3 minutes and 27 seconds of safety.

She turned back around, ready to grab that elusive piece of technology, only to find approximately ten uniformed men, all with their weapons pointed at her. So, turns out her ingenious plan had a major flaw, not looking into the room to hide in. The soldiers stood in a semicircle, their plain masks hiding their expressions or what species they were. Of course, Riley’s knowledge of alien species was rather limited . . . to Earth. So, in other words, it was a big fat zero.

Riley slowly put up her hands, desperately wanting to grab the gun currently at her side but knew that would be an instant death sentence. She gave a light smile to the soldiers. “Clearly there’s been some sort of misunderstanding.”

A ferocious explosion could be heard as the building violently shook, causing the lights to flicker. Riley had trouble keeping her footing but still remained standing as the rumbling stopped.

Well that blast came at the most inconvenient moment.

“Misunderstanding?” a voice repeated. A man walked in between the soldiers, holding  _ the  _ device in his hands. He looked worse for wear. His suit, which Riley remember being immaculate this morning, was dirty, torn, and ruffled. His hair was dishevel, a bruise was starting to form on his left cheek, and his face looked like all his patience was gone.

Riley slightly deflated. This was not how today was supposed to go. Though, she silently thought that about five times today.

He inspected the mechanism in his hands, looking at the delicate wires and circuits running throughout the machine. “This is a complicated device,” the man said thoughtfully as he slowly walked towards Riley, “built by the Time Lords to make an event a fixed point in time, unable to be changed by man or the gods. It’s said the actions leading up to using the device would be in a time lock, making it all impossible to change. Even the Time Lords knew that was too much power to hold so they forbid the use, though they decided to locked it away instead of destroying it.”

The man chuckled at this, looking up from the device. “And you, and your friends, wanted to take it. Did you think it really wouldn’t be protected?” He glanced back at the men, giving them a nod.  For a brief second Riley thought that was it, that he just ordered her execution but instead more people walked forward. Her friends were escorted through the line of soldiers, guns placed to their heads. 

Riley paled. They were not supposed to be here, let alone captured! Just how wrong did their entire plan go? They both looked deflated and hurt. A split lip, black eye starting to form, cuts, and bruises. Though despite their state, Riley still wanted to punch them for putting her through this mess.

The man chuckled again and Riley saw a flash of madness underneath. She had been warned of his reputation but it seemed this had finally pushed him over the edge.

Destroying one’s headquarters and life work would have that effect on some people. Though, to be fair to Riley, that was not the original plan.

“Well here is your prize,” the man announced in a sing-song voice, standing only a mere foot from Riley. 

Then, he smashed the device. He threw it to the ground, stomping it with his foot before reaching for Riley’s gun. She tensed and closed her eyes, still keeping her hands up, and then heard a blast. Not helping but jump a little at the noise, Riley was sure she was going to be shot, until she realized she felt no pain. Slowly opening her eyes, Riley saw the man continuously fire at the machine, rendering it useless ten times over.

Each squeeze of the trigger was like a punch to Riley’s stomach. This was supposed to send her home, supposed to let her have a normal life, but now that was all impossible. She glanced up to both friends, who looked equally on in horror. One held a hand to her mouth, tears freely streaming down her face but the other was in a state of shock, not believing the event unfold. His eyes locked with Riley’s and she could almost sense what he was thinking, reliving all of the events they had together and knowing they would all be undone, that they would have never happened. She could feel some of the memories fade away, faces she knew she recognized only moments before became strangers, events were mere stories. Everything was going to disappear. 

No.  _ This  _ moment, the destruction of the device, was NOT supposed to happen.

Riley looked away from her friends and glared at the man, who was still determined to crush every single molecule of the machine. Without thinking, hardly realizing that he was currently holding her gun, Riley rushed the man, tackling him and knocking him to the ground.

Then, all hell broke loose. Blasters started going off and yells from the fighting broke out. Riley wrestled the man, paying attention to keep away from the blaster, as she fought him. They rolled on the ground, kicking and scratching each other as they fought from control over the gun. She didn’t have an overall plan, per se, but wanted to severely hurt him, making him pay for his grievous mistake.

Then, the heinous sound came again, this time more severe than ever. A great ‘crack!’ could be heard and the ground rigorously shook, this time not letting up. Riley and the man glanced over, seeing the floor literally split in half, swallowing up a few of the soldiers. More rubble fell from the ceiling, crushing some of the men, and a thin layer of dust starting coating everything. Riley frantically searched for her friends, finding both of them safe and successfully fighting off the soldiers, causing her heart to calm down.

She then felt a fist connect with her face, the man recovering quicker after the ground greatly shook. He punched her again, making her see stars, but she quickly rolled away before another fist could connect. She jumped over a fallen beam, narrowly being missed by another laser blast, and caught her breath. Sitting next to her was a blaster, the previous owner unluckily crushed by the falling debris. Quickly picking it up, she stood from her cover, ready to shoot the man.

Then she felt a freight train slam into her chest.

The force roughly pushed her, making her land sharply on her back and drop her gun. Riley’s ears were ringing, not quite making out any sounds except for her labored, harsh breathing. She was having trouble taking a full breath and focusing on anything in particular. The lights constantly flickered with the power cutting in and out, making it harder and harder to see, and the laser blasts and violent cracks in the building made the world seem like one jumbled mess. The ground angrily shook again but Riley could hardly register it, placing a hand to her chest to try and stop the consistent pain growing in her body but only finding a wet, sticky substance.

“Riley, you need to stay awake.” The lady practically yelled in her ear, or at least it seemed like that. Riley felt her friend gently yet firmly move her hand away from her chest before waving a device over her body. She never let go of her wrist and Riley wasn’t sure if the fierce grip was for her benefit or her friends.

Her other friend quickly appeared by her side next, dropping his gun onto the floor and lightly holding Riley’s face between his hands. He silently searched her face, trying to find the same spark in her eyes that he saw so long ago but now they were dull, she was already beginning to slip. “Riley, you have to hold on, we can fix it.”

“No we can’t,” the other women spoke, throwing the medical device away in frustration. She lightly grasped Riley’s arm with her other hand, trying to bring some sort of comfort.

“So we’re just going to give up, just like that?” the man barked in anger.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Riley whispered, looking up to her friend in despair and pain. “It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way.”

“You have to go back and change it,” the women said calmly, though tears started streaming down her face. Her and the man locked eyes as the realization sunk it. He knew the backup plan but never wanted to take that road. There were too many unknowns, too many things that could go horribly wrong.

But compared to what was happening now . . . well, even a 99% chance of failure is worth a shot.

Riley looked between her two friends, starting to understand what they were suggesting. But the increasing pain in her chest was making it harder and harder to think clearly. “How? How can we go back and fix this?”

“Time can be rewritten,” he said, giving her a small smile, “never forget that.”

“But that’s the problem,” she lightly shook her head but stopped after the room started to spin. “Plan B is from scratch, I’m not going to remember, none of us are!”

“It will work,” he said confidently, lightly stroking her face with his thumbs. “You WILL remember us, remember this moment with time. It may take a few years but it will all come back to you.” He needed her to believe and, more importantly, remember.

“But-“ Riley gasped, the pain increasing tenfold. She squeezed her eyes and clenched the man’s forearm. When she opened her eyes, white dots clouded her vision and her breathing became increasingly labored.

“It will be alright Riley,” the women smiled through the tears.  “You will see us soon.”

Another terrible noise ripped through the room and this time, Riley felt the ground fall from underneath her. Both of her friends were instantly pulled away and her vision was flooded with a bright light, bathing everything in white. All sounds seized then, in an instant, a black veil dropped in front of her view. Then, nothing.


	2. The Alien Pig of London

“Oh good, you’re awake.”

She opened her eyes, blinking against the harsh light.  The room was mainly lit with moonlight, with a few lamps giving a warm yellow glow that bounced off the metal medical equipment and shelves.  The smell hit her second, a pungent chemical odor that made the girl wince.  

Something did not feel right.

She moved to get off the table but found her wrists restrained at her sides, held in place by buckled cuffs.  Panic started to creep in but she pushed it down, needing a clear head, more than ever.

“Can you tell me your name?”

She glanced over at the voice, finding a small woman with glasses whose hair was pulled back into a ponytail.  Based on the white coat she was wearing and the medical supplies throughout the room, it was obvious she was some sort of doctor.  The doctor put on a smile though the girl could tell it was forced, seeming worried about something in particular. 

“Riley,” she answered. Riley looked around the room before settling on the doctor. “Where am I?”  she asked, trying to not let panic creep into her voice.

“It’s alright.  We’re not going to hurt you,” the doctor answered with a more genuine smile.  “You’re in a hospital.  Can you tell me how you got here?”

Riley thought that was an odd question.  Wasn’t it obvious? She opened her mouth to answer but slowly closed it.  She searched through her memory, trying to grasp onto at least something that could remotely explain how she ended up in a hospital restrained to a bed but could not remember anything. 

Her name was Riley and that was it.

“Why am I restrained?” Riley evaded the question.

The doctor hesitated, fidgeting with her hands before answering.  “It is for safety purposes.”

Riley was taken aback.  “I thought you weren’t going to hurt me.”

“Our safety,” she clarified, looking ashamed. She quickly continued. “You popped in from thin air. No check in at the front desk, no alarms triggered.  You literally appeared here like magic.  This is the most secure area to keep you and given recent events . . .” The doctor trailed off.

“What recent events?” Riley slowly asked, slightly afraid to hear the answer.

The doctor gave her an incredulous look. “You don’t know? It’s been all over the news.  There was--” 

A harsh thump echoed through the otherwise silent room, cutting off the doctor’s reply.

The doctor paused, quickly glancing over to the other side of the room before concentrating back on Riley.  “There was a ship, crashed in the Thames and inside-“ The thump rang through the room again, louder than the last time.

Both women paused, the doctor now staring at an entryway on the other side of the room.

“What was that?” Riley whispered but the doctor ignored her, taking a step towards the sound instead.

The thump was even louder the third time, sounding like someone forcefully banging against a door.  There were no other shouts or sounds from the maker, just irregular banging becoming more powerful. The doctor, perhaps irrationality, slowly walked towards the door with a mixture of shock and fear.

Riley couldn’t take it. “What else are you holding down here?” she demanded.

“An alien.”

“A what?!” Riley gave a weak laugh. “There’s no such thing! Right?”  The doctor didn’t answer, slowly walking towards the source of the sound instead. 

“Why would you even be holding an alien down here?  This is a hospital right? How secure is that? This has to be some sort of joke, first my memory is gone and then there are aliens.” Riley’s ramblings continued, talking faster.  “This is all one elaborate dream or someone’s practical joke. Pretty stupid joke in my opinion, at least let me remember something.”

The doctor glanced back at Riley, the fear on her face becoming more prominent. “This isn’t a joke,” she whispered. “The ship that crashed, it was an alien ship.  The alien pilot died and we’re keeping him down here for analysis.”

“So I’m in a morgue?!” Riley asked exasperatedly.  Both women jumped as the banging cut through their conversation.

“We thought you were dead. You somehow showed up in the middle of the investigation, not breathing.  We believe you are connected to the alien somehow and were about to place you in the cold chamber when you suddenly-“ She jumped again, as the bang vibrated through the morgue.  Now noises could be heard.  Heavy panting breathing along with harsh scraping against metal became increasingly louder.   “If that thing is alive, I need to get it out of there.” She continued walking towards the sound.

“Wait, wait,” Riley struggled against the cuffs around her wrists as panic began to set in. “Listen, whatever that thing is, it sounds angry and you said it’s alien. You need to let me go!”

The doctor ignored her, heading towards the cold chambers to let, whatever it is, out.  Riley struggled harder against the bindings, trying to get some sort of grasp against the cuffs.  She stretched her fingers as the brushed against the buckle.  The right one was loose! She worked harder, knowing that alien was about to be set free. The sound increased in volume, a constant sharp noise as the doctor got closer. 

Riley gave a small victory as she got the right clasp undone, quickly jumping off the table to free her left hand.  She glanced up towards the doctor, who already had a hand raised to open the cold chamber.  The doctor hesitated as the sounds became increasingly harsh and urgent.  Knowing she just had seconds to act, Riley glanced around and spotted a scalpel.  She quickly grabbed the knife and in one motion, cut the cuff free from the table. 

The door to the cold chamber burst open and the doctor let out a blood curling scream.  Glancing up, Riley saw a short creature burst out the cold chamber, letting out a horrific screech before running into the doctor.  She was knocked over, falling onto a metal table and sending medical instruments scatter across the floor.  Riley panicked.  This was an alien, a real life, maybe come back from the dead, alien! She looked around, finding a heavy-looking metal tray and picked it up for defense.  A metal tray and scalpel aren’t exactly a sword and shield but it would have to do.

The doctor quickly recovered, also picking up a heavy metal device as she headed back to Riley.  She harshly pulled Riley down behind a metal table, holding the instrument in front of her as a weapon.

“It’s alive,” she shuttered out, visibly shaken and breathing heavily.

Riley noticed a small trickle of blood coming from the top of her head.  “Yeah but it hasn’t killed us yet so that’s a good sign!” Riley answered nervously, trying to calm her beating heart.  Despite not remembering anything, this was NOT how she wanted today to go.

Heavy footsteps echoed through the chamber, becoming louder with every second before the double doors burst open, revealing a man followed by a handful of armed uniformed soldiers.  Upon seeing the guns, Riley immediately dropped her makeshift weapons and made her hands visible.  Half of the soldiers had their guns trained on her and the doctor, shining lights into their faces.

The man, on the other hand, looked completely different from his entourage, wearing a black leather jacket with dark pants with no visible weapons.  His thin face first looked towards the cold chamber, finding it wide open and empty, before turning to the two women. He quickly walked over, kneeling down on the other side of the metal table.

“It’s alive!” the doctor shouted again, still clutching onto the metal instrument.

The man looked towards the soldiers. “Spread out. Tell the perimeter it’s a lockdown,” he calmly ordered before moving closer to the girls.  Riley heard the doctor muttering it’s still alive, seemingly in some state of shock.  The man held onto both of her hands, trying to calm her down before noticing the soldiers hadn’t moved.  “Do it!”

The soldiers moved out, quickly searching the rest of the hospital and leaving them alone in the room.

“I swear it was dead,” the doctor rasped out, still trying to control her breathing.

The man continued to hold her hand to help her remain calm. “Coma, shock, hibernation, anything.  What does it look like?”

A piece of metal clattered on the other side of the room, immediately capturing the man’s attention. He let go of the doctor’s hand and turned towards the source.  “It’s still here,” he breathed, standing up and backing up towards the double doors. He motioned for the soldier to come in before slowly walking back towards the source.  As the soldier knelt next to the doctor, training his gun towards the noise, Riley slowly stood up.

“It-“ she started to whisper but the man immediately turned around, putting his finger to his lips. She watched the man calmly walk to the noise before another piece of metal fell to the floor.  As he crouched down to the floor, Riley immediately followed suit.  Whatever this thing was, this man seemed to know what it could be.  Or, at the very least, know how to handle it.  He started to slowly crawl behind a table, glancing around the corner.

Then, the alien spoke. Or, at least Riley thought it spoke. It sounded like . . . was that a pig? Riley glanced back to the doctor and soldier, not believing she heard it.  Did the alien just squeal like a pig?

“Hello,” the man happily greeted to the alien.

But the kind greeting was lost to the pig-alien.  Its squeals turned into screeches, running away from the man.  The soldier immediately stood up, his weapon trained on the running figure.  “Don’t shoot!” the man shouted to the soldier. Riley stood up as well, shocked to see the alien as an actual pig.  A pig, in a spacesuit, standing on two feet.

Okay, this had to be some sort of crazy dream.

The alien ran out of the room, screeching in panic the entire way. The man immediately ran after it and, because so far this man seemed to have the most sense, Riley ran after him.

They followed the squealing sounds, running through the dimly lit corridors.  Riley pushed herself to keep up, not believing this man could not tire.  He expertly turned down halls, while Riley nearly fell into tables and tripped on door frames.  They were both coming to the end of a hallway when a gunshot pierced through the hospital. The hallway emptied into another corridor of soldiers, one with his gun trained on the alien.  Riley saw the alien-pig on the ground, the creature eerily silent.

“What did you do that for?! It was scared!” the man yelled, completely at a rage. He walked towards the guilty soldier, who looked in fear as the man advanced on him.  Instead of continuing, the man knelt down next to the alien.  “It was scared,” he repeated, though calmer this time.  The soldier’s guilt grew as he looked between the man and pig, realizing the alien could have done him no harm.  The man slowly stroked the pig’s face as it gave its final breath.

“Go,” the man breathed, still looking at the alien.

“But sir-“

“GO!” he yelled before all the soldiers broke away, leaving the man and Riley alone in the corridor.

The man stayed there, lightly caressing the pig’s face and staring off into seemingly nothing. Riley opened her mouth to speak but hesitated.  He needed time for, whatever this is, at least a few uninterrupted moments.

She waited a few minutes before timidly speaking up.  “We should move him, at least give him a proper burial or somehow notify his race.”

“It’s not an alien,” he calmly answered, looking up to Riley. “It’s from Earth.”

“So it’s been created, someone modified a pig?” Riley shook her head in disbelief. “Then how does the ship crash fit into all of this? This was the pilot.”

“Come on,” he ignored her question, picking up the pig and cradling it into his arms.  He calmly walked back to the morgue, the walk seeming much longer to Riley.  Sunlight started to filter in through the windows, but it didn’t do anything to lighten up the place.  The lights seemed harsher against the white halls and cold metal.  It seemed a terrible place to die.

The man gently placed the pig onto the table, laying it down with great care and respect.  The doctor seemed to have somewhat recovered but her relaxed faced turned into shock when the man brought the pig in. Riley stepped next to the man but hung back from the table.

“What happened?” she whispered, seeing him place the pig on the table.

“One of your soldiers,” he simply answered, a hint of bitterness still in his voice.  “Tell me all you know about this creature.”

“Here are the charts,” she picked up a clipboard and handed it to the man.  He quickly glanced through the clipboard before handing it back to the doctor, seemingly not looking at it.  “We did all of the usual tests, found alien technology augmenting it’s brain.  Some alien experts are going to be flown in tomorrow, well I guess today, and we're going to take a closer look.”

“Pointless, this isn’t an alien.”

“What?” the doctor incredulously asked.  “But the clothes, the bone structures are completely different than any animals. It can stand on two legs!”

“Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary? Any chemical compounds you couldn’t identify, any technology.”

“Just the brain augmentation, along with the suit. But we only had it for a few hours. We’re still waiting on some of our tests.” The doctor hesitated before continuing. “I would ask Riley if you want more answers.”

“Me?” Riley scoffed. “What do I have to do with this?”

“You appeared right after all of this happened.  You cannot tell me it’s a coincidence.”

“It’s a coincidence,” Riley retorted, giving the doctor a glance.  She lightly shook her head. “I cannot remember how I got here or why.  The first thing I remember is being strapped to your table.”

“Which you somehow escaped.”

“Hold on,” the man put up his hand in annoyance. Riley could feel anger starting to pour out of him.  “A girl randomly appears during Earth’s, seemingly, first alien encounter and you take her prisoner?”

The doctor hesitated, wringing her hands together. “We thought she was dead but when we got a pulse, we weren’t sure what to think of her.”

“Ah great, wonderful plan you have in place for unexplained events, just lock it away!” he said sarcastically. “Even when something is not even alien!”

The doctor looked ashamed, making Riley feel a tinge of guilt.  “I’m new to all of this, it wasn’t my idea to restrain Riley.  As for the pig, I just assumed this is what aliens look like, but you’re saying it’s an ordinary pig from Earth.”

“More like a mermaid,” the man harshly explained. He glanced between the doctor and Riley. “Victorian showmen used to draw the crowds by taking the skull of a cat, gluing it to a fish and calling it a mermaid. Now someone's taken a pig, opened up it's brain, stuck bits on, then they've strapped it in that ship and made it dive bomb. It must've been terrified.” The man paused, looking at the pig who was so cruelly used. Riley could sense the man brimming with anger. “They've taken this animal and turned it into a joke.”

“So it’s a fake,” the doctor breathed. Riley looked up from the pig, glancing at the man who still had his arms crossed.  She could see him calculating something, thinking deeply before glancing up from the pig.

When he slowly and silently walked out of the room, Riley followed. She gave one last glance to the doctor, who was still looking at the pig in amazement, not even noticing the two leaving. 

The man started running down the corridors, making Riley sprint to keep up.  He was determined, as if needing to do something before running out of time.  Rushing past the break room, the man entered a storage closet and was out of Riley’s line of vision. She ran forward, pushing the door fully open when there, behind medical supplies, Riley saw it. She slowly walked in the room, just glimpsing the man entering the door to a big blue police box.  Riley wondered how it got into the storage closet, definitely not able to fit through the doorframe.  Of course, she wondered why it was here in the first place since it was definitely not a piece of medical equipment and why the man was entering it. It seemed eerily familiar, something she may have seen from her childhood? As if the total shock factor was dialed down a bit.

After a few moments, where Riley was still in a state of wonderment, the man opened the door, sticking his head out. “Well, are you coming?” he asked, looking at her standing there, wasting time.

“Into the police box?” Riley asked, giving a nervous laugh.

“Of course, what else would we go?” he scoffed.  “Come on!” He went back inside the box, leaving the door ajar

Carefully, dodging the shelves of medical supplies, Riley approached the box. It was a tight fit, the box nearly taking up half of the supply closet, making her wonder what going into the odd box would even do. She weighed her options, staying here and being some sort of prisoner during a crisis where soldiers had a shoot first, ask later policy, or enter a very strange box with a man who knew what the hell was going on. 

Riley opted for the latter.

As she stepped into the box, her eyes grew wide, seeing the impossibly large room inside. 

Now this was alien.

The cavernous room had stone-like pillars curving from the sides, anchoring into a glass floor almost like tree branches, like it was alive.  The walls were metal, with decorative circles giving the place a grudge-type vibe.  Or maybe the circles were important to the integrity of the room, Riley had no idea.  Thick black cables were shroud throughout the room, connecting to various components.  And in the center was a glowing green console, with flips, levers, switches, buttons, lights (so many lights!), rotating mechanisms, more wires, and so many alien looking things. A great glass cylinder rose from the console, giving off a green glow and slightly pulsating.

It was unlike anything Riley had seen.

“Close the door, will you?” he asked Riley in an annoyed tone, pressing buttons, levers, and switches all around the middle console.

Riley, still staring at the room, blindly closed the door behind her. “What . . .” Riley paused. “It’s. . .”

“This is all wrong, not how the human race was supposed to meet aliens.  Aliens faking aliens, who does that?” the man ranted, continuing the skip around the console.  “I would hang onto something.”

The room jerked and Riley quickly grabbed onto the railing for balance.  The middle glass cylinder started moving, letting out a wheezing rasp as the ship regained its balance. The man threw another lever, pressed a bell and the wheezing stopped, letting out a satisfying thud.

“And we’re moved!” the man turned around and smiled to Riley.

“What do you mean we’ve moved?” Riley demanded, going up to the steps to the middle console.

“It’s my time machine, called a TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimension in Space. Are we done?” he said hurriedly bringing a monitor around and looking at the contents.

“You’re mad, how could have moved?” Riley laughed.

A squeaking sound made Riley turn towards the door but the man continued studying the monitor.

A blonde girl in a white jacket walked in, looking slightly worried as she came up next to the man.  She glanced at Riley, a quizzical look on her face and opened her mouth to speak but was quickly cut off.

The man started rambling. “Alright, so I lied. I went and had a look. But the whole crash landing's a fake. I thought so. Just too perfect. I mean, hitting Big Ben. Come on, so I thought let's go and have a look-“

“My mum’s here,” the girl calmly interrupted, stopped the man in his tracks.

Another sound could be heard by the doors and the three of them turned. A women, who definitely looked like the girl’s mother, and another man walked into the TARDIS.

“Oh, that's just what I need. Don't you dare make this place domestic,” he said in an annoyed tone, pointing to the girl.

“You ruined my life, Doctor. They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect because of you,” the new man pointed to the Doctor.

Doctor? What kind of name was Doctor?

Said Doctor seemed increasingly annoyed “You see what I mean?” he asked the girl. “Domestic.”

The man took a step towards the Doctor. “I bet you don’t even remember my name.”

“Ricky,” the Doctor turned around and confidently answered.

That’s when they started arguing.

“It’s Mickey.”

“No, it’s Ricky.”

“I think I know my own name.”

“You think you know your own name? How stupid are you?”

“Mum don’t!” the girl interjected, seeing her mum looking shocked and running out of the TARDIS. The girl followed before talking to the Doctor. “Don’t go anywhere,” she ordered and then turned to both men before running off. “Don’t start a fight!”

“Who is she?” Mickey looked Riley up and down with a distrusting look. He had his arms crossed and seemed to be sizing up Riley, trying to figure out exactly who she was. In response, Riley couldn’t help but stand a little straighter and give her own glare at the man. Having a random person judge her based on appearance was the last thing she needed. 

“Riley, meet Ricky,” the Doctor answered, receiving a glare from Mickey and an annoyed scoff from Riley. 

“My name is not-“

“You call that an introduction?”

“Aliens. Middle of London. Priorities,” the Doctor spelled out, still concentrating on the screen and ignoring the pair. 

“That was a real spaceship.” Riley turned, seeing the girl run back into the TARDIS, coming up besides the Doctor. Did she just leave her mom out there? Wait, where exactly were they?

“Yep,” the Doctor answered.

“So it’s all a pack of lies? What is it, then? Are they invading?”

“Funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert,” Mickey smugly commented.

The Doctor glanced at Mickey. “Good point! So, what’re they up to?”

“Hold on, time out!” Riley yelled, before quickly pointing to the Doctor. “You, shut it.” She added after seeing the man attempt to speak up. He promptly closed his mouth, surprised at the small outburst. Riley glanced between the three strangers, who were seemingly okay being inside a room that was bigger on the inside, talking about invading aliens. 

Like this was their job or something.

On the monitor was a picture of Big Ben smoking in the distance but the spaceship on the river held Riley’s attention. For being something that came from space, it looked old and rusty.  This wasn’t a fake broadcast, the technology wasn’t good enough to be replicate this. She glanced back up in the TARDIS, knowing this had to be alien technology. The lights, the mechanisms, the fact that  _ it was bigger on the inside _ . And here, along with the random  _ Doctor _ were two people who randomly appeared through the doors.  Her and the Doctor were just in the hospital, where the hell did they come from?

Her eyes opened with realization, the quick explanation the Doctor gave her sinking in.  They had moved . . . Riley rushed back out of the TARDIS, charging through the doors and stepping out into a place that was definition not a hospital. Gone was the small room, random supplies, and overall creepiness. Instead, the big blue box stood in an alleyway, most likely miles from where she first entered the box. 

“This is really a time machine,” she breathed, looking around in disbelief.  She turned around back to the TARDIS, where it was still sitting seemingly normal, definitely not like the time machines in the movies. Jogging around the box, she could not see any tricks, just a plain police box. She even pushed against it, thinking it was somehow carried here but it wouldn’t budge, firmly planted on the ground. And it was definitely smaller on the outside and definitely not fit an entire room inside, let alone four grown adults, at least not comfortably.

The Doctor calmly appeared at the door, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed. 

“Told you it was a time machine.”

“You, Doctor…whatever,” Riley pointed to the man accusingly.

“Just the Doctor,” he smiled.

“Whatever,” she brushed him off, waving her hands around. “Explain.”

“Like I said, time and space machine.  I moved us from the hospital to here. Only left here about 30 minutes ago.”

Riley ran a hand through her hair, looking over the box, no machine.  How could  _ this _ be possible? How could she have stumbled upon this and this . . . person?

Then, the nerves fully kicked in. “Why have you labeled a time machine police box? Out of all the things, why a police box? How many do you have? Are all police boxes time machines? Are you a policeman, no of course you’re not, look at your jacket and ears.  Can you imagine someone who those ears trying to direct traffic? Does this mean you’re an alien? An alien investigating alien things? Specifically aliens who fake aliens? Well, this box is definitely not from earth so I guess everyone on earth is an alien to you, so an alien who helps out other aliens as well?”

Riley took a deep breath and paused, looking back at the Doctor who looked a bit in shock. “Sorry, I tend to ramble when . . . things get crazy. Or at least I think I do.”

He smiled. “Yes, you do and yes I am an alien,” he paused, looking a bit worried, “is that fine?”

“Ah, yes fine, peachy,” Riley nodded. “I mean, aliens are invading the planet so I have to be fine with it right?”

The girl appeared next to the Doctor, stepping out of the TARDIS. “Are you alright?” she asked Riley, seemingly concerned. “He never asks that.”

“Oi!”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Just been a long day,” she breathed and smiled at the girl, ignoring the alien Doctor.  

“I’m Rose,” the girl introduced herself.

“Riley. Who exactly are you? The three of you I mean.”

“We’re,” Rose hesitated, glancing to the Doctor for help, “well, we go around-“

“Time travelers,” the Doctor interrupted with a smile, as if it was the most believable reason in the world. “I travel through time and space, exploring the stars and planets and every now and then run into unexpected events.”

“He means trouble,” Mickey interjected, glaring at the Doctor. “Everywhere he goes trouble follows.”

“We help people, fix any trouble that occurs,” Rose clarified, giving a look to Mickey.

“So, all of you are aliens?” Riley asked.

“Me?” Rose laughed. “Absolutely not, Mickey isn’t either. We’re both from Earth.  The Doctor saved my life, well, both of ours.” At this, Mickey scoffed again while the Doctor rolled his eyes.  “Are you an alien?”

“No, or at least I don’t think so,” she hesitated, looking at the Doctor who shook his head no. “Kind of lost my memory.”

“She was at the hospital,” he explained to Rose as he walked back inside.  Both girls followed him. “Apparently appeared right when this whole thing started and you humans, doing what you do best, panicked.”

“We don’t do-“

“Ask her,” the Doctor interrupted Rose before opening one of the floor crates and jumping inside.

Rose looked at Riley for an explanation.

“It was fairly extreme. They essentially took me prisoner, tied me up,” she held up her wrist with the cuff still attached. “They weren’t quite sure what to do with me. But it may have been justified, I cannot even remember how I got there, maybe I am part of all of this.”

“Hey,” Rose placed a hand on Riley’s shoulder, “you didn’t ask for this and I bet you had no control over being at the hospital.”

“Thanks,” she smiled at Rose, hoping she was right. “Either way, the Doctor offered an escape so I took it. Though I do have to admit, he forgot to mention the whole,” she gestured around the TARDIS, “time machine slash alien part.”

“Some friend you’ve got,” Mickey spat out from the other side of the room.  He looked annoyed as he leaned against the railing, most likely having another spat with the Doctor.

“Mickey, he’s,” Rose sighed, giving the boy a pleading look before glancing at Riley. “One moment.” She walked over to him and the pair started to talk in low whispers, leaving Riley alone.

She walked over to the side of the room, leaning against one of the pillars, trying to wrap her head around everything as she surveyed the space.  But there wasn’t that much to wrap around.  Today’s events are the only ones she could remember. She woke up in a hospital, met a not-alien pig, hitchhiked aboard a time machine, and was now hanging out in said time machine with the alien’s human friends. Was this ‘normal’ for her? It definitely seemed unusual but she didn’t have a clear reason why it wasn’t completely unbelievable. Her whole memory was fuzzy, bits and pieces of knowledge thrown about but nothing substantial. She let out a flustered scoff and started to take off what remained of the cuff off her wrist.  It came easily enough and she placed it on a railing, not sure where to put it or if there was even a trash can around here.

At least they didn’t tie them too tight. She pulled back her right arm sleeve seeing no marks but on her left one . . . The cuff previously covered it up but she realized there was something else on her wrist. It was fairly big, taking up about one-third of her forearm with an oval-shaped object sticking out. There were two snap buttons, securing a flap down which Riley immediately undid, finding a silver, oval device. It looked simple, only 3 buttons, a screen, and a circle.  A piece of cloth was sewed into the flap, with random strings of numbers, letters, and symbols. It seemed to be a list but Riley couldn’t understand what they were and had no idea why some symbols were crossed out. She closed the flap, securing it back in place and looked at the rest of the device, seeing it completely covered in leather and securely fastened to her wrist.

“Got it!” the Doctor celebrated, making Riley jump. She immediately pulled down the sleeves of her jacket. Whatever it was, it possibly looked alien and that’s the last thing she needed.

The Doctor continued, jumping out from underneath the console. “Patched in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of that spaceship. Here we go. Hold on.” He hit the monitor after it didn’t corporate. “Come on.”

Riley walked over to the Doctor and Rose. “That's the spaceship on its way to Earth, see? Except. Hold on. See? The spaceship did a sling shot round the Earth before it landed.” The four watched a recreation of the spaceship flight pattern, seeing it start and end on Earth.

“What does that mean?” Rose asked.

“It means it came from Earth in the first place. It went up and came back down. Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived, they've been here for a while. The question is, what have they been doing?”

“I’m not an expert at alien things but doesn’t that ship seem very worn?” Riley pointed out. “It could have been why it crashed but either another ship had to drag it here or they’ve been holding onto it. It had a bit of rust built up, who knows how long they’ve been planning this.”

“And if they’ve been planning it, they couldn’t look like aliens, right?” Rose continued, looking between Riley and the Doctor. “Like Mickey said, the whole planet is on red alert, they would have to blend in.”

“Then the perfect place is hide is where no one is expecting aliens, out in plain sight,” the Doctor nodded and hit a button, changing the channel on the monitor. He started flipping through, looking for any hints or clues.

After a few seconds, Mickey came up. “How many channels do you get?”

“All the basic packages.”

“You get sports channels?”

“Yes, I get the football,” the Doctor annoying answered. He stopped flipping the channels. “Hold on, I know that lot.” A group of high ranking military personnel were shown on the screen. “That’s UNIT.”

“United Nations Intelligence Taskforce,” Riley answered. All three turned around to look at Riley, who was extremely shocked she said that.

“How do you know that?” the Doctor asked in disbelief, starting to wonder who this random girl really was.

“I-I have no idea,” Riley shook her head. “It just popped up.  I remember the acronym but that’s-“

“Is there anything else? Any hint of additional information?” Riley tried to remember something but lightly shook her head.  The Doctor raised his hands, nearly about to place his fingers on the sides of her temples but thought better of it. Who knows what barriers were placed up and he already had one mystery to solve. He rested his hands on her shoulders instead. “You memory might come back to you in time, perhaps helped along by trigger words like UNIT.”

“Good, that’s good,” Riley nodded her head, giving him a weak smile.  It still didn’t explain why she knew what UNIT stood for.

“So you know them?” Rose asked the Doctor and Riley.

“The Doctor knows ‘cause he worked for them,” Mickey answered smugly, pointing a finger at the Doctor. “Oh yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet or in the history books, and there's his name, followed by a list of the dead.”

“That's nice. Good boy, Ricky,” the Doctor quickly said in a mocking tone, like a teacher saying good job to a student.

Rose ignored them both. “If you know them, why don’t you go and help?”

The Doctor turned off the screen. “They wouldn't recognize me. I've changed a lot since the old days. Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There are aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep this alien,” he pointed to himself, “out of the mix. I'm going undercover.” He started twisting knobs and ran a bell. “And er, I'd better keep the TARDIS out of sight. Ricky, you've got a car. You can do some driving.”

“Where to?”

The Doctor headed towards the door with the three humans following him. “The roads are clearing. Let's go and have a look at that spaceship.”

All four stepped out of the TARDIS, Mickey closing the door behind them. Immediately Riley heard a helicopter and a bright spotlight was shone on all of them. A military tank turned off from the street, followed by a handful of police cars with sirens blazing. A man was shouting orders somewhere but Riley barely paid attention, instead looking around as they were quickly surrounded. As soldiers with rifles appeared, Mickey quickly ran off, leaving the three standing by the TARDIS. A few soldiers followed, yelling for him to stop but the remaining ones aimed their weapons at the trio. Riley saw Rose’s mum in the distance, crying and yelling though being held back by a handful of men.

“Raise your hands above your head! You are under arrest!”

The trio immediately raised their hands, Riley looking increasingly worried and glanced over to the Doctor. “Take me to your leader!” he smiled, like a giddy schoolboy who was about to go on an adventure. Riley wished she could share in his excitement.


	3. World World, eh Nevermind

Riley expected the worse. Taken away to a holding chamber, tied up (again), interrogated, and who knows what else.  The planet was looking for aliens and here she was, found with an alien, stepping out of a very alien box after escaping from where they were holding a fake alien.

So Riley wasn’t quite sure why they were being lead to a town car instead. The three climbed in the back, with the Doctor in the middle and were soon driving away.  No handcuffs, no weapons trained at them. It all seemed . . .

“This is a bit posh. If I knew it was going to be like this, being arrested, I would have done it years ago,” Rose said in a surprise, relieved by how things were going.

“I’m with you,” Riley chuckled. “I cannot wait to see what our cells look like.” She winked at Rose.

“We're not being arrested, we're being escorted,” the Doctor clarified before giving both girls a boyish grin.

“Escorted where?”

“Where'd you think? Downing Street.” He let out a big laugh, causing both girls to grin at each other.

“You’re kidding,” Rose smiled, hardly believing it.

“I’m not.”

“10 Downing Street?” Riley asked, “Where the Prime Minister lives?”

“That’s the one.”

Rose let out a laugh, looking out the window before turning back to the two, filled with excitement. “I’m going to 10 Downing Street!” she paused, turning a bit more serious. “How come?”

“I hate to say it, but Mickey was right. Over the years I've visited this planet a lot of times, and I've been, er, noticed.”

“So they know who you are?” Riley asked, looking between the Doctor and the entourage that were following them.  The sirens were still turned on and Riley wondered just how many surrounded them. “They know you’re an alien?”

“Well . . . yes. Like it said on the news. They're gathering experts in alien knowledge. And who's the biggest expert of the lot?” he smiled proudly at the girls.

Rose paused. “Patrick Moore?”

The Doctor looked deeply offended. “Apart from him.”

“Oh, don’t you just love it,” Rose laughed, also putting a smile on Riley’s face.

“I’m telling you. Lloyd George, he used to drink me under the table. Who's the Prime Minister now?” he asked the girls.

“How should I know? I missed a year.”

Riley thought for a bit. “It’s Harold Wilson, right? Though, I don’t keep up with politics that much.”

Rose and the Doctor laughed, causing Riley to give a half smile.  She was actually serious, wasn’t it some bloke named Harold? Though, knowing her knowledge about politics, she could be wrong, and often was. Maybe she got the name mixed up with a football player.

The sirens grew louder as they traveled to 10 Downing Street.  The roads were barricaded off but let the convoy through with a mere flash of a badge. As the car stopped in front of 10 Downing, Riley could hear a bombardment of cameras and reporters speaking rapidly.  The three got out of the car, the Doctor waving in excitement, and the reporters starting asking questions, mainly who they were to begin with. Riley gave a small wave but was still a bit nervous and excited. Mainly nervous though, the military and police presence on the street was in full force and Riley still wasn’t sure if the trio was walking into danger.

They were escorted into 10 Downing, with the door closed immediately behind them, cutting off the street noise. The place was packed to the brim. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry, rushing around the rooms, typing frantically on keyboards, or yelling into phones.  Riley noticed the phones and computers looked sleeker and more compact. Most likely top of the line technology that was yet to be offered to civilians. More military personnel, similar to the ones at the hospital, were stationed throughout the building, a constant reminder of the severity of the situation.

The trio was ushered into a room full with high ranked military personnel, politicians, and other people who looked important. Riley felt out of place amongst everyone in suit and ties but at least the Doctor and Rose were similarly dressed down. If this was where all of the experts in alien knowledge were brought, there sure were a lot of them.  At least more than Riley would have imagined.  And these seemed like sane people, not dissolutional fanatics that wore tin foil on their heads. Everyone in the room was talking, or arguing in some cases, making the whole situation more tense.

“Ladies and gentlemen, can we convene?” a man spoke over the noise as he entered the room. “Quick as we can, please. It's this way on the right, and can I remind you ID cards are to be worn at all times.”

People began to shuffle out of the room as the conversations ceased. The man came up to the Doctor, handing him a card attached to a chain. “Here's your ID card. I'm sorry, your companions don’t have clearance.”

“I don’t go anywhere without them,” the Doctor answered as he took the card, placing it over his head. Riley was immensely surprised. A full blown world-wide emergency and the Doctor thought of them?

“You're a code nine, not them. I'm sorry, Doctor.” The man got a little starstruck, releasing who exactly he was speaking to. “It is the Doctor, isn't it? They’ll have to stay outside.”

But the Doctor persisted. “They’re staying with me.” He started to usher both of them out but was interrupted by the man.

“Look, even I don't have clearance to go in there. I can't let them in and that's a fact.”

“It’s alright, you go,” Rose said to the Doctor.

Riley nodded, not wanting to cause any trouble.  She felt like she attracted enough attention today and didn’t want to get anymore. “We’ll be fine here, don’t let us hold you up.”

“Excuse me.” A woman walked up to the group, interrupting them. Though she hardly seemed nervous or timid, instead inserting herself into the conversation. “Are you the Doctor?”

The man, ID card guy as Riley called him, seemed severely agitated, physical looking annoyed. “Not now, we're busy. Can't you go home?”

“Not terribly busy,” Riley spoke up to the man, not liking his tone. “We’re still not exactly sure why we’re here.”

“You’re not supposed to be here,” he pointed to Riley, causing her to swat his hand away. “You just came along with the Doctor.”

“I just need a word in private,” the lady insisted, not backing down.

But the man wasn’t having any of it. “You haven’t got clearance, now leave it!” He turned from her, focusing on Riley and Rose.  Riley looked around, just then noticing that the Doctor had left. How could she have missed him? “I’m going to have to leave both of you with security.”

He started to escort them to some military personnel when the lady spoke up again. “It’s alright, I’ll look after them. Let me be of some use,” she smiled at the man and girls. The man didn’t look like he much cared and the lady motioned for Rose and Riley to follow her. “Walk with me.” She kept on smiling, a bit too hard in Riley’s opinion, very forced. “Keep walking,” she encouraged them, exiting the room and looking straight ahead. “That’s right.” Rose glanced back to the man, wondering if she should really be following this stranger. “Don’t look around,” the lady smiled, causing Rose and Riley to jump. They kept on walking when the lady took out a badge, holding it up to show to the girls. “Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North.”

She lead them to the front of the house, not so close to the military personnel and other politicians. Riley kept on wanting to look back but now the women, Harriet, seemed nervous. Maybe nervous wasn’t the right word, almost frightened?

“This friend of yours, he’s an expert, is that right?” Harriet asked the girls. Riley noticed her strong persona quickly deteriorating but she was trying to keep it together. “He-he knows about aliens?”

Rose, on the other hand, seemed skeptical, not fully trusting the lady. “Why do you want to know?”

Harriet opened her mouth to answer, trying to find the words but it seems she finally cracked, her lips trembling as she held back a sob. Riley immediately placed a hand on her shoulder. “Harriet, what’s wrong?” she softly asked. But Harriet started crying, covering her face trying to hold back the tears. Riley looked to Rose for help, who looked just as dumbfounded as her but also tried to console the women.

“Harriet, what happened? Did you,” Riley looked around, making sure no one was in earshot. “Did you see any aliens, something strange?”

She didn’t answer but instead lead them down another hall, looking back behind them every so often to make sure she wasn’t followed. A sense of dread started rising up in the pit of Riley’s stomach. If the aliens were inside 10 Downing Street, that was not good.

They stopped inside a board room, filled with exquisite mahogany furniture and heirlooms.  Riley was surprised how fancy the room was decorated, wondering just how extravagant other rooms in the house were. Harriet stopped in front of a wardrobe, taking a deep break before opening the door and reaching inside.  Then, she pulled out . . . a suit? Well, not a suit and tie type of suit but something looking like a Halloween costume.  If you desired to dress as a large, middle-aged, white man.  Not very original. Especially since it had an odd zipper along the forehead.  Was this some sort of new show Riley wasn’t aware of?

As Harriet placed the suit over the chair, the smell hit Riley. It smelled like . . . well, death, or at least something that was decomposing. Riley hesitantly reached out and touched the face, only to find that it felt like actual skin, almost as if someone pulled off an outer layer of a human. She looked over the suit. The hair, fingernails, everything about it seemed real. But it couldn’t be, right?

“They turned the body into a suit.  A disguise for the thing inside!” Harriet explained, fear starting to set in again. As she held back a sob, Rose took ahold of her shoulders.

“It’s alright, we believe you.” Rose, like Riley, looked extremely worried. Whoever, or whatever alien, did this was not only invading the earth but had already started killing people. And they’re inside 10 Downing Street.

“You’ve seen something like this before?” Riley asked Rose, hoping she had some idea who exactly they were dealing with.

“No, not exactly. But it’s definitely alien.” As she started to look around the room, Riley gently placed a hand on Harriet’s back, trying to calm her down. “They must have some serious technology behind this. If we could find it, we could use it.”

“They would need some sort of device, be able to modify their body to fit into this . . .” Riley gestured to the suit, not wanting to say the word  _ skin _ . At one point this was a person and now they were like a rag.

This day just keeps getting worse.

“Exactly, they may have something stashed away,” Rose explain, looking through drawers and behind curtains. “If we can find it, we can show it to the Doctor then he can—oh!”

Rose shouted as she opened a wardrobe, finding a man who immediately fell to the floor. The man didn’t move as Harriet and Riley rushed over to check on him.

“Oh my God! Is that the . . .?” Rose trailed off as Riley gently rolled him over to his front. She first checked his eyes, not seeing the pupils constrict, then placed her fingers against his neck, trying to find some sort of pulse but it was silent. The skin was cold and felt very similar to the suit.

Okay, so that was the second dead person she touched in less than 2 minutes.

“He’s dead,” Riley breathed, looking up at Harriet and Rose.

“Harriet, for God’s sake!” a man yelled from the door entrance, walking over to the girls with a fierce look. Riley immediately stood up, looking at the man with wide eyes. Being found with a dead body is another event she did not plan for today. “You cannot just wander.” Then he stopped dead, looking at the man on the floor. “Oh, my God. That’s the Prime Minister!”

“Oh!” Another voice sounded from the doorway, her body covered in the shadow. “Has someone been naughty?” She sounded sinister, almost gleeful as she slowly entered the room and shut the door behind her. Something seemed off about the lady, like she was hiding something.  No sane person would walk into a room with the, recently discovered, dead Prime Minister and have that short of reaction.

“That’s not possible,” the man breathed, looking shocked as he glanced between the Prime Minister and women. “He left this afternoon – the Prime Minister left Downing Street. He was driven away!”

Harriet gently placed a hand on Rose, holding her back some and Riley had the urge to do the same to the man.  He stood too close to the lady, too trusting.

“And who told you that? Hmm?” the women asked, walking towards them. She seemed pleased, like a cat who just caught a mouse. She stopped in front of the man, dropped the purse to the floor. “Me,” she smiled cheerfully, looking delighted at the revelation.

Then, the women slowly ran her hand across her forehead, unzipping some sort of seam. She then proceeded to pull off her skin, literally, pulling it down over her head and showing a green alien thing emerging. It was an alien, a real life (definitely not pig) alien! A blue glow shone across the room as she shredded her skin, electricity shooting out between the human skin and the rest of her body. The green figure was large, much larger than the previously shorter women, with big black eyes and great arms and claws the size of a small child.

As she stepped out of the skin, standing to her full height, the four could only stare. Riley thought she was in shock, not quite believing what was in front of her eyes.  But there it was.

Then she noticed the alien pulling back one of her arms.

Without thinking Riley reached out and jerked the man back, the alien’s arm barely missing and instead hitting air. They both stumbled back onto Rose and Harriet, tripping over the Prime Minister as the alien let out a roar in frustration.  She went to strike again when lighting seemed to encase her entire body, causing her to stop mid motion and yell in pain.

Riley and Rose wasted no time. They grabbed the man’s and Harriet’s hands, rushing past the alien and out of the room. They ran down the hallways, trying to find a place to hide or at least a group of people. Where were the military boys when you needed them?

They were far from the room when Harriet stopped them. “No, wait!” she halted. “They’re still in there. The emergency protocols, we need them!”

Riley and Rose glanced at each other, looks of disbelief on both of their faces as Harriet started to rush back to the room.

“I’m getting out of here,” the man yelled, heading in the opposite direction.

Both girls ignored the man and rushed to follow Harriet, only to hear an odd growl. As Riley turned the corner, she found that the alien had indeed gotten out of the force field thing and started rushing after them!

Harriet yelled as the girls started sprinting through the corridors. Riley and Rose trying to close doors to slow the alien down but she merely charged through them, sending splinters flying through the air. They still hadn’t found any police or military officers, much to Riley’s annoyance. Where the hell was everyone?

Rose rushed ahead, going to open a door only to find it locked. As she banged against it, trying to get it to open Riley heard a ‘ding’ and turned around. Low and behold the Doctor was there, in the lift, smiling as the alien put up her arms and screeched at him. Riley pulled on Harriet and Rose, leading them into an adjacent, and open, doorway as the alien was distracted.

They rushed through another door, only to find it was a room instead of a hallway. Rose tried another door, finding that one locked as well.

“Can you find a door that isn’t locked?” Riley yelled, closing the door behind them. They were stuck in the room, there was no other way out.

“Hide!”

Rose rushed around, hiding behind a chest. Harriet and Riley both went by the window, behind a folding screen and curtains. They all tried to calm their breathes, Riley placed a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. She hadn’t run this fast in quite a long time.

It wasn’t long before they heard the alien enter the room. She crept in, quietly laughing as she walked inside. “Oh, such fun. Little human children, where are you?” she taunted. Riley would have retorted, not like being talked to like that, if she wasn’t so terrified. “Sweet little humeykins, come to me. Let me kiss you better. Kiss you with my big, green lips,” she laughed.

Out of the corner of her eye, Riley saw Rose move from her hiding spot. She hoped the alien didn’t spot her, that was a risky move.

And then, she heard more.

“My brothers,” the alien happily greeted. Riley could hear more aliens enter the room, seemingly friendly with the lady. Just how many aliens were in this building?

“Happy hunting?”

“It’s wonderful,” the alien purred, moving around the room. “The more you prolong it, the more they stink.”

“Sweat and fear.”

“I can smell an old girl. Stale bird and brittle bones,” one said, causing Harriet to tense. Riley lightly placed a hand on her arm. If they could smell them, this was not good. Riley could sense them getting close to their hiding places. They all held their breathe.

“A delectable fragrance, smells all crisp, fresh, and new. Her blood will be exquisite.”

“And a ripe youngster,” the female laughed, “all hormones and adrenalin. Fresh enough to bend before she snaps.”

Riley heard Rose scream, causing her and Harriet to jump from their hiding spot. They saw one of the aliens revealing Rose behind the curtain, cornering her in the room as Harriet threw open her arms, standing in front of Riley. “No! Take me first! Take me!”

Riley looked over, seeing a chair and promptly picking it up. “Oi, green blobs! Anyone tell you you’re ugly?”

The aliens looked angry and confused, not quite sure who to go after first. They had three choices this time! Should they share between themselves or claim one for each? Nobody liked seconds but there were so many flavors to try!

Then, they lost their chance. The Doctor burst into the room, holding a fire extinguisher and promptly sprayed the closest alien. “Out, with me!” he yelled as he continued to spray. Riley threw the chair towards the aliens for good measure and the girls rushed to the Doctor. Rose pulled a curtain down over one of them, causing it to trip and fall to the floor.

They looked back at the confused aliens as the Doctor did not relent until he looked over at Harriet. “Who the hell are you?”

“Harriet Jones,” she answered, holding up the same badge she previously showed Rose and Riley, “MP for Flydale North.”

“Nice to meet you Harriet Jones,” he smiled, which Harriet promptly agreed.

The Doctor dropped the fire extinguisher to the ground and all four of them rushed out of the room. Riley could hear the aliens squeal in pain and anger but she dared not look back. They were having fun before but now they were angry. Their overall chance of escape was starting to wear thin.

“We need to head to the cabinet room,” the Doctor said as they rushed down the hallways.

Harriet agreed. “The Emergency Protocols are in there. They give instructions for aliens.”

“Harriet Jones, I like you.”

“And I like you too.”

“How can we be sure these protocols will work for these aliens?” Riley asked as they turned door another corridor. “Or is it a catch all for all types of aliens?”

“Who knows,” the Doctor looked back and smiled at Riley. “Always wondered how humanity would respond to aliens, now I get to see all of their options!”

They were getting closer to the cabinet room and the Doctor turned a corner, seeing a shortcut. He took a device out of his pocket, like an oversized pen, and pointed it at the door handle. It made a unique buzzing sound and gave off a blue glow before the door unlocked and opened. They all rushed through, Rose closing the door behind her as Harriet grabbed the Emergency Protocols. Riley was about to close the only other entrance to the door but found the aliens, running to get in. The Doctor roughly pulled her back and stood in the doorframe. He held up a decanter full of alcohol and placed the oversized pen to the glass.

“One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof, we all go up. So back off,” he warned. The aliens let out a growl but still took a step back.

The Doctor gave a small smile, lowering the decanter and fully standing up to the aliens. “Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?”

“They’re aliens,” Harriet answered for them.

Still keeping the smile the Doctor glanced back. “Yes, I got that. Thanks.”

“These are the Slitheen?” Riley asked, looking at the aliens. She gestured to the three of them. “These green alien blobs?”

This received a snarl from the aliens and one stepped up. “And who are you, if not human?”

Harriet spoke up again. “Who’s not human?”

“He’s not human,” Rose answered for her, causing Harriet to glance over in panic.

“He’s not human?”

Riley gave a light laugh. “I know, shocked me too when I found out.”

The Doctor glanced back to the girls again. “Can I have a bit of a hush?”

“Sorry,” Harriet answered, still shocked by the whole ordeal.

The Doctor turned around, paying attention to the Slitheen again. “So, what’s the plan?”

“But he’s got a Northern accent,” Harriet whispered to Rose.

“I know, I was thinking the same thing. How can he be alien but sound like he’s from the north?” Riley asked Rose.

Rose shook her head. “Lots of planets have a north.”

“I said hush,” he glanced back at the girls again. This time, they were all quiet. He brought the decanter up again, placing his sonic device to the side of it. “Come on. You've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government. What for, invasion?”

The Slitheen looked annoyed at that question, as if the mere suggestion was ridiculous. “Why would we invade this God-forsaken rock?”

Okay, so invasion was out of the question. But if they didn’t want to take over the world, what other reason would there be?

The Doctor was thinking the same thing. “Then something's brought the Slitheen race here. What is it?”

“The Slitheen race?” one asked, clearly still annoyed. This was obviously the wrong thing to say.

“Slitheen is not our species,” another alien huffed. “Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer-Day-Slitheen at your service.”

Then it clicked for the Doctor. “So you’re a family?”

“A family business,” the Slitheen answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe.

The Doctor paused, thinking through the information before facing the Slitheen again. “Then you're out to make a profit. How can you do that on a God-forsaken rock?”

They growled again, not wanting to give up their full plan when one of the aliens spoke up. “We’re going to succeed despite the meddling of you and your time agent, Doctor!” he hissed, causing the Doctor to look on in confusion.

“Time agent, what time agent?” he asked, looking between the three aliens.

“Don’t play stupid,” one of the Slitheen scoffed. “I clearly saw the vortex manipulator when she randomly dropped into the hospital.” One of the aliens pointed directly at Riley, whose eyes widened in shock and confusion. “I was planning to snatch the device after we saw she was dead but she decided to breathe!”

“Well sorry I’m such an inconvenience to you!” Riley shouted at him, not liking how he was talking about her. Or the fact that he was accusing her of being a time agent, whatever the hell that was.

“Ah, excuse me?” another alien politely asked. “Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability?

“Is that what I said?” the Doctor asked.

“Did you forget?” Riley hissed, not believing this man.

But the aliens finally figured it out. “You’re making it up!”

“Ah, well,” the Doctor looked a bit deflated, looking down at the decanter. He shrugged before handing the decanter back behind him. “Nice try. Harriet, have a drink. I think you’re gonna need it.”

But the woman just looked at the alcohol, still clutching the emergency protocols. “You pass it to the left first,” she whispered.

“Sorry,” the Doctor corrected, moving the decanter to the other side of him.

Riley took the alcohol. “Thanks,” she whispered, still staring at the scene unfolding. Her idea of interacting with aliens was not like this, not like this in one bit. She promptly took the cap off the decanter and took a swig.  She coughed after she swallowed the drink. “I hate scotch,” she muttered, wiping her mouth and passing it to Rose. She blindly took the alcohol, keeping her eyes fixed on the aliens.

“Now we can end this hunt,” the Slitheen purred, lighting stretching their fingers, “with a slaughter.”

Riley waited for the Doctor to do something but he remained stationary, merely crossing his hands in front of his chest.

“Don’t you think we should run?” Rose asked, receiving a nod from both Harriet and Riley.

“Fascinating history, Downing Street.” Oh, now he was going to give them a history lesson? “Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mister Chicken. He was a nice man.” The Doctor chuckled, still with his arms crossed and ignoring the growling and purring from the Slitheen. “1796, this was the Cabinet Room. If the Cabinet's in session and in danger, these are about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain. End of lesson.” The Doctor then promptly lifted a panel by the door, pressing a button.

Instantly, a metal wall fell in front of the door, cutting them off from the Slitheen. Every window followed suit, locking down the room from the outside.

“Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in,” The Doctor smiled, clearly pleased with himself.

Rose and Riley looked around the room, seeing all of their possible exits sealed off. “And how do we get out?” Rose quietly asked the Doctor.

He stood there, smiling at the girls as he also looked around the room before giving a firm nod. “Ah.”

Clearly he hadn’t thought about that part yet.


	4. Voyage of the Not Damned Yet

Riley roughly opened cabinets, desks, and tables, trying to find any sort of alien technology. The Doctor seemed convinced that they were using an alien device to communicate with the main ship or something that helped them, seemingly, destroy the world. But she was coming up empty, only finding old documents, dust, and empty drawers. 

“What have we got? Any terminals, anything?” the Doctor asked the girls, taking his sonic device and waving it in front of the window frames. 

“Nothing, this place is clean,” Riley answered, shaking her head and harshly closing a box. She glanced over to the Doctor, watching him work. “What exactly is that thing? You threatened to blow up the scotch and the Slitheen believed you.”

“Oh this?” he asked, waving the oversized pen in his hand. “Sonic screwdriver. Kind of like a Swiss Army Knife only without the knife or saw,” he paused for a second, looking over the device. “Actually, it’s nothing like a Swiss Army Knife. Can open doors, scan things. Oh! Though it can open a bottle of wine!”

Riley looked at him for a second, not quite quite sure what to make of the man. He’s an alien, an idea that doesn’t seem quite foreign to Riley, and somehow travels through time and space. She’s never heard of anything like it but prior to today, she’s never been in a time machine either. At least to her knowledge. 

“But now, the more important question,” the Doctor announced, finishing his scan and turning to Riley. “Who are you?”

“Me?” Riley asked, looking a bit baffled. They were trapped inside a cabinet room, with aliens who were keen on destroying the world outside and he wanted to talk about her? “What about me?”

The Doctor looked her over and Riley could see the wheels turning in his head. She couldn’t quite read his expression though, halfway between frustration and curiosity. He waved her over. “Let me see your wrist.”

Riley narrowed her eyebrows in confusion but stepped over, holding out her right wrist. The Doctor promptly took it, shoving down the sleeve of her jacket, only to find nothing. “The other one.”

Riley paled. She had forgotten about the mystery device strapped to her wrist and was now wondered if that was somehow all connected. If she had just shown the Doctor sooner, would the world be safe, aliens gone, and herself not trapped inside a cabinet room-turned-bunker? 

She hesitantly held her other wrist out. The Doctor only had to grab her it before looking up at her in shock and disappointment. He moved her sleeve over the device and snapped over the top, exposing the keypad and screen.

“What is that?” Rose asked in wonderment, looking between the device and Riley. “Definitely not from this time.”

“No,” The Doctor snarled, looking at Riley with his eyebrows furrowed. “It’s a vortex manipulator. A cheap way to time travel,” he shoved her hand away and Riley timidly looked down at the device. This thing could make her travel through time? “Used by the Time Agency in the 51th century. Why do they want to interfere with these events, eh? Why send a Time Agent?”

“A Time Agent?” Riley asked, looking back up at the Doctor in confusion.

“Oh don’t play dumb. Only Time Agents have vortex manipulators.” The Doctor crossed his arms and looked accusingly at Riley. “So what did they send you to fix?”

“Fix? I have no idea what you’re talking about!” The Doctor opened his mouth to speak but Riley quickly cut him off. “I’m not lying,” she said sternly, looking him in the eye. “The last thing I remember is waking up in the hospital. I’ve never seen something like this before or if I did I cannot remember it.”

“A likely story. And how did you end up, randomly in this hospital?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know? I cannot remember anything!” Riley and Doctor were becoming more agitated by the second, both fueled by each other’s stubbornness.

Oh the other side of the room, Rose felt a buzz and took her phone out of her pocket. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at the screen. “Ah, guys?”

Both neither paid her any attention, refusing to back down or break eye contact. “And you just  _ happen _ to lose your memory when the Earth is invaded? Please tell me you can see how unbelievable that sounds.”

“I’m not stupid, I know it sounds unbelievable but it’s the truth!”

“A Time Agent shouldn’t even be here anyway. You’re changing the course of history and this is a key moment in Earth’s history!”

“Doctor, Riley?”

“I’m not a Time Agent,” Riley hissed. “I don’t even know what one is. The first time I time traveled was with you,” she poked him in the chest. “I didn’t even know I had this on my wrist until I was in the TARDIS.”

“You knew about that in the TARDIS?” The Doctor nearly shouted in disbelief, a few of his veins popping out. “And you didn’t say anything? Find a random device to your wrist and not tell the alien time traveler? Did you find any other alien technology I should know about?”

Riley glared at the man and shouted right back. “What, so you can yell at me some more?”

“Someone has to. This isn’t a game, Earth is at stake here!”

“DOCTOR!”

Riley and the Doctor paused in their feud, realising just how close they got to each other. They both took a step back, putting some distance between them, and looked at Harriet who got their attention.

“Now I do apologize for the yelling but now is not the time to argue,” Harriet said sternly, looking at both as if she was scolding her children. Riley felt ashamed, her anger diminishing some. “Like you said Doctor, the Earth is at stake and we cannot be at each other's throats.”

“Doctor,” Rose stepped forward, holding a device in her hand. “It’s Mickey.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Oh, tell your stupid boyfriend we’re busy.”

But Rose persisted. “Yeah, he’s not so stupid after all.” She held out the device, and the Doctor slowly took it from her. Riley peered over and saw a photo of a Slitheen. How did Mickey send that photo? Nevermind that, what type of device is that?

“We’re sealed off. How did you get a signal?” Harriet asked, after joining the trio and looking as well.

“He zapped it,” Rose nodded to the Doctor and took the device back. “Super phone.” She started calling Mickey.

“Hold on, what is that exactly?” Riley asked, pointing to the device in Rose’s hand.

Both the Doctor and Harriet looked at Riley dumbfoundedly. “You don’t know what a phone is?” Harriet asked the girl. 

“Of course I know what a phone is,” Riley tried not to roll her eyes and then pointed to the phone Rose was holding. “But that one isn’t connected to anything.” 

“It’s a mobile phone,” the Doctor answered plainly, looking at Riley funny. “You don’t know what a mobile phone is but you have a vortex manipulator strapped to your wrist. That’s,” he paused for a second, trying to find the right word. “Now that’s an enigma.”

“Is she alright, though?” Rose’s voice cut over the conversation as she spoke into the mobile phone. “Don’t put her on, just tell me.”

The Doctor went over and quickly snatched the phone out of Rose’s hand who looked a bit shocked at the action. “Is that Ricky? Don’t talk, just shut up and go to your computer.” He paused, looking a bit disgruntled. “Mickey the idiot, I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but . . . I need you.”

The Doctor then starting firing off instructions, half of which Riley could not understand. Something about the ‘inter-net’ and ‘web sights’, though UNIT did come up which she knew about. Only a bit though. The Doctor did seem to know exactly what to do, making Riley believe he was some sort of genius. She had no idea how he could help Mickey navigate something he couldn’t see. 

She stood close to Harriet, watching her pour some drinks into glasses. “How can he have a computer?” she asked Harriet, who paused in her pouring to look at the girl. 

She cleared her throat and then continued. “You don’t have a computer at your home? Or ever used one in a library?”

Riley shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. I know they’re getting more compact but I’ve never heard of someone having one at home.”

“What about all of the computers you saw downstairs?”

Riley shrugged, having thought of that earlier. “I thought it was a secret government technology. Using it for top secret information until being widely distributed to the public.”

Harriet carefully put the decanter down before picking up a glass and giving it to Riley. She thanked her and tried not to down it all in one gulp. “I know this might be an unusual question to ask but,” Harriet paused in thought, feeling a bit odd to ask, “what year do you think it is?”

Riley paused in her drinking, finding the question to be extremely odd. It’s a question that people ask only in movies or when they’re crazy. “Why?” Riley asked slowly. “What year is it now?”

“It’s 2006, my dear,” Harriet said quietly. 

Riley nearly dropped her glass and quickly set it on the table. She looked around, not believing she didn’t notice it before. It was as if a switch turned on in her head, some of her memory rearranging herself as she truly looked around and took it all in. The technology, clothes, heck even the car that escorted them here all looked newer. Not just newer, but from the future. She looked down at herself, realizing the clothes she wore were also modern, not quite from her era. Brown leather jacket, black pants, and boots. 

“Riley, are you alright?” Riley snapped out of it, feeling Harriet lightly place a hand on her shoulder. 

“Yeah, just,” Riley paused, nodding her head. “Just a bit of a shock. I’m not from this time, I had forgotten.” But how? How could she forget that she wasn’t from 2006? When, and where, was she from then?

“We’re in.” Riley heard Mickey over the speaker, still receiving directions from the Doctor.

“Now then, on the left at the top, there's a tab, an icon. Little concentric circles. Click on that.”

Mickey paused for a second before an odd sound emitted from the phone. It sounded like it was underwater, though Riley wasn’t sure. “What is it?”

“The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea and it's transmitting that signal. Now hush, let me work out what it's saying.” The Doctor concentrated, looking at the phone in annoyance, like it was taking too long to figure out. “It’s some sort of message.”

“What’s it say?” Rose asked. 

“Don't know. It's on a loop, keeps repeating.” He seemed  confused but kept on listen. Then, a doorbell rang through the speaker. “Hush!” he yelled. 

“That’s not me,” Mickey answered. They could hear some noise on the other side of the speaker but Riley couldn’t make out what exactly they were saying. 

“Isn’t it the middle of the night, who would be knocking on their door?” Riley asked, curiously looking at the small phone-like device. 

“Hush!” The Doctor spat out again. “What am I, a broken record. You,” he aggressively pointed at Riley. “Just stand there and don’t touch anything. I’m not through with you.”

She opened her mouth to bite back but after seeing Rose’s worried face, quickly closed it. She had forgotten how Rose’s boyfriend had a run in with the Slitheen only moments ago, probably worried sick. Giving out a small sigh, Riley sat back and started fiddling with the vortex manipulator . . . thing on her wrist, opening and closing the snaps to the flap. She was starting to feel anxious and annoyed, being cooped up inside the room and getting yelled at by the Doctor for doing absolutely nothing. Rose, Harriet, and the Doctor stood beside the phone, talking about what the sound could be, not paying attention to her. 

She decided to look at the vortex manipulator more closely, fully opening the flap and looking at the string of numbers, letters, and symbols. She lightly ran a finger over them, wondering what they could mean. Some of them matched the symbols on the screen and she noticed they changed when she pressed the circle button. She wondered how exactly this worked, or even if it still did work, and more importantly, why was it on her wrist. Letting out a sigh, she moved to snap the cover back in place when her hand accidently hit one of the oval buttons.

Riley saw a flash of white light and immediately felt herself being pulled in every direction, like a great force was pushing in and pulling her apart at the same time. A splitting headache started to form and she wanted to scream but had no air in her lungs. She could only see the flashes of the bright white light, seemingly burning her eyes. Whatever it was, she wanted it to stop, wanted it to be all over. Did the Slitheen succeed and they were all being destroyed by some massive explosion? Did they really not save the world?

Then, it all stopped. 

Riley felt herself crumble to the ground, resting on her knees and forearms and she gulped in deep breathes of air. It felt like she just finished a marathon and been run over by a bulldozer.  Everything hurt and was extremely sore, down to every bone in her body. Easing herself down on the ground, Riley gently rolled over to her back, letting out a groan in pain. She clenched her head, waiting for some of the dizziness to go away.

Gingerly, she opened her eyes and saw metal. Lots and lots of metal. She looked around, finding herself in some sort of corridor with piping running along the ceiling and floors. Machines were scattered along the corridor, looking like some sort of power source. Faintly, behind her, she could hear light music, glasses clinking, and laughter. 

This was definitely not the cabinet room. Then, she remembered. 

“Doctor!” she exclaimed, sitting up too quickly and clutching her head in pain. She had started to feel better but was not quite 100% yet. She slowly looked around the corridor, finding no sign of The Doctor, Rose, or Harriet. And, whatever she was, it definitely did not look like 10 Downing Street. Unless there was some sort of underground bunker that she got transported to. 

“Okay, think Riley,” she muttered to herself, trying to remember how she got here. They were all in the cabinet, talking with Mickey over the phone, and she was fiddling with that weird device on her wrist. 

The vortex manipulator!

She immediately looked at it, finding that it looked practically broken. Pressing a few buttons, nothing was lighting up or making sounds. Almost like it was just a toy now. Could that have transported her? The Doctor did mention it was a time travel device. But what are the odds of her accidently time traveling? What were the odds that it could actually work?

Riley slowly stood up, finding the dizziness beginning to wear off. At least nothing was broken to her knowledge. Very slowly, she made her way down the corridor, towards the source of the noise. She needed to get out of here somehow and, at the very least, somehow send help to the Doctor, Rose, and Harriet. If she was somehow transported out of 10 Downing Street, she may be the only one to save them. 

The music and chattering were getting louder the closer she got to the end of the hall. At the end was a door, or at least she thought it was a door. Very carefully, very mindful that there could be Slitheen on the other side, Riley opened the door only to find no Slitheen. 

Quite the opposite in fact.  

She found herself in an ornate ballroom, complete with red carpets, chandeliers, and hundreds of men and women in black tie. The tune was instantly recognizable, Christmas music in a upbeat, though relaxing tempo. Everyone was dancing, eating, or talking, enjoying the festive music. In fact, there were Christmas decorations all around the ballroom. Wreaths hung on the decorative and detailed wood walls.  Streamers hung across ceilings and ornaments were placed throughout the room. 

This was definitely not 10 Downing Street. 

Unless this is how some people celebrate aliens invading Earth. 

Riley glanced back to the corridor, seeing no one else down the long hallway. Well, guess there was only one option. Closing the door behind her, Riley walked into the ballroom, ignoring the looks she was getting from the guests. Yes, yes, she wasn’t in formal clothes. She didn’t get that message. 

Hanging close to the walls, she tried to find a main entrance or some way out. If she could get to the street, maybe she could make her way to 10 Downing, or at least contact the police. Or better yet, UNIT! They seemed to be involved in this whole alien business so they could definitely help. But, Riley only had to travel a few feet before she passed a window. Or at least something that looked like a window. Slowly walking backwards, Riley stood in front of the glass and looked out. 

In front of her was space. Literally space, full of stars, planets, and the great pitch blackness. There were millions of stars, burning brightly, showing galaxies and constellations, much more than she have ever seen before. And there, down below, was Earth, shining brightly against the dark.

“I’m in a spaceship,” she breathed, not quite believing it. This couldn’t be a trick, right? A party celebrating an alien invasion could have windows overlooking space, right? She looked around, trying to see if anyone else was amazed by this but the view was lost on the people. They seemed more concerned with food, drinks, and the overall company than the vastness of space outside the window. Then, she noticed it. A man held a very advanced mobile device to his ear. A group of women were watching a hologram. 

And, of course, the short red man with spiky hair gave it away too. 

She was really in space, on a very advanced ship. Or this was one hell of a dream. 

Riley slowly walked away from the window, wondering what to do now. She couldn’t get to 10 Downing Street from here, though it looked like the Earth was still intact, which was good. None of these people looked like Slitheen in disguises, they weren’t big enough. She had to talk with someone and know the exact situation and if there was any way to get back to Earth. 

She looked around the room, trying to find someone who might be willing to talk with her but everyone looked all posh and, frankly, uptight. The whole place was screaming formality and normally, both of which was not Riley, especially how she was dressed. Well, in that case, the one way to blend in is find those who look more out of place than her. 

She walked around the ballroom, trying to find anyone who looked out of the ordinary. Then she spotted them. Though, in reality, they shouldn’t have been that hard to find. Sitting at a table were a couple, wearing very purple, matching outfits. The outfits looked like they came from a very colorful western, complete with stars that sparkled, decorative stitching, and stetsons. The possibility of them being Slitheen were pretty high but she doubted they would be sitting in a spaceship with a table full of food. Speaking of food, her stomach gave out a very loud growl in protest, realizing that it must have been ages since she ate. 

Perfect.

She made a beeline for the couple, sitting down next to the women before either could speak up. “Mind if I join?” she asked, before taking an empty plate and filling it up with food. “Sorry, I’m starving. Been a rather long day, running around and no time to eat.” She picked up a glass of water and started drinking, noticing just how thirsty she really was. She held out a hand to the baffled woman. “Hi, I’m Riley.”

The woman timidly shook Riley’s hand before her husband did the same, both of them still looking baffled. “I’m Foon, and this is my husband Morvin.”

“Pleased to meet both of you,” Riley smiled, before eating some more. 

“I’m sorry, have we met?” Morvin curiously asked, not quite sure of this random girl. He knew they were being made fun of the passengers and didn’t want her to upset his wife any more. 

“No, at least, not that I can remember,” Riley answered, starting to eat a buffalo wing. She had just noticed how ravenous she truly was and now couldn’t stop eating and drinking. But, she still had to work out how to get back to the Doctor, Rose, and Harriet. First thing first, find out how she’s drinking champagne in space and what exactly is happening on Earth. “I have a bit of memory loss now and then. Actually, could you tell me where exactly we are?” 

The couple looked at each other in even more confusion. “Why the Titanic of course,” Foon laughed. “It says it on all the vintage life preservers.”

The buffalo wing slowly fell out of Riley’s hands, clanging to the plate. “Titanic? THE Titanic?” she asked in shock. 

“The maiden voyage. At least that’s what the hosts said,” Morvin nodded towards the people in the angel costumes whom she just noticed were actually robots. Of course. He had started to eat again, finding that the girl wasn’t there to make fun of them. 

“But,” Riley glanced out of the window. “We’re in space.”

Morvin and Foon gave a roaring laugh. “Of course we are!” Foon chuckled, “how else would we get here?”

“And where is here exactly?”

“Why Earth, of course!”

Another booming laugh cut off their conversation and making Riley jump a bit. She forgot she was in the middle of a crowded ballroom. A group of well dressed young adults were laughing, with some directly pointing at Morvin, Foon, and Riley. 

“Just ignore them,” Morvin told Foon, brushing off the laugher. 

Riley narrowed her eyes at the group. What kind of people enjoy making fun of strangers, right where they can see and hear no less. She had half a mind to tell them off when a man dressed in a suit walked up to their table. Similar to what she had just done, he sat down next to Morvin, also glancing back to the young adults. 

Believing that she’s been found out, Riley froze. If this was the “Titanic” (really, who names a ship that?) then she probably needed a ticket, which she definitely didn’t have. But the man paid her no attention. 

“Something’s tickled them,” the man commented as he sat down at the table. 

“They told us it was fancy dress,” Foon answered gesturing to their clothes and giving a laugh without a smile, “very funny I’m sure.”

“Well, I didn’t even get the memo,” Riley lied, smiling at the couple. 

Marvin consoled his wife. “They’re just picking on us because we haven’t paid.” He looked to the man who just sat down. “We won our tickets in a competition.” He pointed to his wife, letting her take all the credit. 

“I had to name the five husbands of Joofie Crystalle in By the Light of the Asteroid,” she smiled, visibly pleased with herself. Riley had never heard of the show . . . assuming it was a show, but was glad they won the tickets. Better than the lot who had to buy their way in. She continued to eat the food in front of her, still hungry. “Have either of you ever watched By the Light of the Asteroid?” she asked the mystery man and Riley. 

The man thought for a moment. “Is that the one with the twins?”

Foon got excited, glad that he knew. “That’s it! Oh it’s marvellous.”

“When does it come on?” Riley asked, trying to be apart of the conversation somehow. 

“Oh, you can only find reruns on the live channels,” Foon brushed off. “But the first three seasons are on NetBox.”

“Ah,” Riley nodded, though she had no idea what NetBox was. Was it a type of television? “I’ll have to check that out,” she lied. 

“But we're not good enough for that lot,” Morvin commented, pointing at the group that were laughing at them earlier. Riley and the mystery man looked over to them. “They think we should be in steerage,” he said harshly, clearly not liking the group. 

Riley shook her head. “Just forget them. What are the chances that you’ll ever see them again, apart from this ship? You should have a fun time here! You won those tickets fair and square, don’t let them bring you down.”

“Well,” the man thought, looking over his shoulder before turning back towards the group. “Thinking others should be in steerage? We can’t have that, can we?”

Riley saw the man reach inside his pocket and take something out, though couldn’t see exactly what it was from where she was sitting. He stared forward as a distinct buzzing sound emitted from his jacket, making Riley freeze. She’s heard that sound before, the sonic screwdriver from the Doctor! Were those the ‘it’ tools in the future? Then, a great POP went off. A cork went flying off a champagne bottle, drenching the entire group as they yelled and tried to stop the spraying. 

The three looked on in shock, with Foon recovering first. “Did-did you do that?” she asked, pointing to the scene. 

“Maybe,” the man said smugly, putting the device back in his pocket. 

Foon and Marvin started laughing and Riley couldn’t help but grin at the man. “We like you,” Foon said as her husband clapped along and Riley nodded in agreement. Anyone who did that to those types of people were good in her book. 

“We do,” Marvin nodded before holding out his hand and shaking it with the man. “We do. I’m Morvin Van Hoof. This is my good woman, Foon. And this is-” Marvin started to gesture towards Riley when he was cut off.

“Riley!” the man exclaimed with a massive smile. He immediately went over to her, much to Riley’s surprise, and lifted her out of her seat, giving her a great hug. Riley remained frozen, still clutching a glass of champagne in one hand as the man embraced her in a bear hug. “It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages!” He looked around her seat, seeming a bit confused. “How long have you been sitting there?”

“Uh,” Riley also looked around her seat, wondering how he could have missed her. “I’ve been here the whole time?”

“Of course you have!” he continued to grin, absolutely thrilled that she was there. He still had his hands on her shoulders, starting to make Riley feel uncomfortable. “Can always count on you showing up!”  He glanced over at Marvin and Foon, guys going wide. “I’m so sorry, where are my manners,” he held out a hand to shake with Foon. “I’m the Doctor.”

The sound of glass breaking pierced through the air, though no one seemed to pay much attention. In her shock, Riley had dropped the glass in her hand, not even trying to catch it as it fell. How can he be the Doctor? Surely not the Doctor she was just with. This man looked . . . well, he looked completely different. Unless Doctor was a title, passed onto different people?

“Oh, I'm going to need a Doctor, time I've finished with that buffet,” Foon chuckled, picking up some more food. The Doctor picked up a wing and also started eating. “Have a buffalo wing. They must be enormous, these buffalo. So many wings.”

Riley was about to correct Foon, these were in fact not made from buffalo, but kept on looking at the Doctor, feeling flabbergasted. “I’m sorry,” she said to the man. “But have we met?”

“Of course we have,” he answered in between bites of food, “You know . . . the Doctor.”

“Doctor who?” Riley asked weary.

“Ah!” he exclaimed, still having a big goofy grin on his face. Then he noticed Riley,  _ really _ noticed her. That jacket, the way she was acting . . . Oh. “We’ve never met before?”

“No, at least not that I can remember.” It seemed like she was adding that clause when meeting anyone new. Having your memory wiped can sure be inconvenient.  “How do you know who I am?”

“Well,” the Doctor said slowly, trying to figure out how best to tell her. 

A ‘bing’ noise sounded over the top of the music and chatter before a man gave an announcement. “Attention please. Shore leave tickets Red Six Seven now activated. Red Six Seven.”

Both Foon and Marvin became excited by this announcement, immediately pulling out a piece of red paper from their jackets. “Red Six Seven. That’s us,” Foon smiled, showing the ticket to the Doctor. The couple stood up from their seat. “Are you Red Six Seven?” she asked the Doctor and Riley.

“Might as well be,” the Doctor smiled, figured he would give . . . whatever was about to happen a shot. 

Marvin helped the Doctor up. “Come on then!” He placed an arm around his wife, looking proud. “We’re going to Earth!”

Riley looked at the Doctor in shock as she also slowly stood up from her seat. “Did they just say Earth?” she asked the Doctor, or at least the man who was claiming to be the Doctor. 

“Come on!” The Doctor smiled to Riley, not answering her question. 

They both followed the couple, Foon pulling Marvin along in excitement, as they met a group of fellow passengers with Red Six Seven. A man was holding up a sign, cattling people over to his group. Riley followed, not believing they could be going to Earth. 

“How can you be the Doctor?” she asked, falling in step and not taking him out of her sight. “You look completely different, or is it some sort of family name?”

“Nope,” he answered, popping the ‘p’ out at the end of the word. “Same Doctor, different face.”

“You can change your face?” Riley laughed, looking the man up and down. “That’s impossible.”

“No, really. It’s been quite a few years since we last met and, in between that time, I got a new face. Well, new everything.”

Riley stopped walking, grabbing the Doctor’s arm and turning him towards her. “Prove it,” she said defiantly, looking him in the eye. “For all I know my friends and the  _ real _ Doctor could be dying while I’m up here drinking and being pulled along by a madman claiming to the the Doctor. Prove that you’re really him.”

He looked startled at the accusation and cleared his throat. “Alright then. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

He then took a deep breath and began to speak rapidly. “Judging by the jacket you’re wearing, I’m betting to guess that you just came from 10 Downing Street where we were trying to stop the Slitheen, a family of aliens, from essentially destroying the world and harvesting the nuclear waste remains, all for the sake of money. The last time you probably saw me we, and I mean you, me, Rose, and Harriet, were trapped inside the cabinet room, with 3 inches of steel sealing us off from the Slitheen. We were talking with Mickey, not Ricky, on the phone who was hacking into the UNIT website, along with Rose’s mother. From what I gathered, and what you told me later, you were fiddling with your vortex manipulator when it transported you out of the room and, from reasons still unknown to me, landed you here on the Titanic.”

The Doctor paused for a second, trying to figure out what else he could add. “Oh! And I know you don’t like scotch. And this is my sonic screwdriver,” he smiled, taking the screwdriver out of his pocket and held it up, waving it around a bit.

Riley’s mouth hung open in shock, hearing the man tell her details of what was happening in her life only minutes ago. “Oh my God,” she breathed, and then her eyes grew wide as the Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a sonic screwdriver. No,  _ the _ sonic screwdriver. “You really are the Doctor.”

He gave her a sly smile. “Everything turned out alright, by the way. Stopped the Slitheen, saved Earth, and Rose and Harriet are just fine. That was all, oh, a few years ago now?”

“Where is Rose by the way?” Riley asked, peering around the ballroom. “Did she leave?”

The Doctor looked a bit uncomfortable and was just about to open his mouth to answer when a waitress came up to them, carrying a drink on a tray. “I got you that drink,” she smiled excitedly but the Doctor paid no attention to the glass. 

“And I got you a treat. Come on.” He took the tray from the waitress, putting it on a nearby table before dragging the lady along. “Come on Riley!”

Riley continued along, making a mental note to ask about Rose later. Meanwhile, the Doctor made his way to the front of a group, showing an older man some sort of badge, claiming he was Red Six Seven. That odd badge seemed to be enough, a man giving the Doctor three silver bracelets before he walked back to the girls, feeling rather smug. 

“I’ll get the sack,” the waitress said, extremely worried. 

“Brand new sky, for both of you,” The Doctor smiled, giving the bracelets to the girls. A smile slowly grew on the waitress, seemingly not believing what was about to happen. Riley, on the other hand, put on the bracelet but felt even more worried. How exactly were they going to get to Earth?

The tour guide, if you could call him that, then started to give a brief history of Earth and Christmas. “I am Mister Copper, the ship's historian, and I shall be taking you to old London town in the country of UK, ruled over by good King Wenceslas. Now, human beings worship the great god Santa, a creature with fearsome claws, and his wife Mary.”  Riley was taken aback. Wait, what? “And every Christmas Eve, the people of UK go to war with the country of Turkey. They then eat the Turkey people for Christmas dinner like savages.”

Gently, Riley tugged on the Doctor’s sleeves. “Uhhhh,” was the only incoherent thing she could get out, not even knowing where to start with that explanation. 

“Excuse me,” the Doctor spoke up, raising a hand. “Sorry, sorry, but, er, where did you get all this from?” 

“Well, I have a first class degree in Earthonomics,” Mr. Copper said proudly, though he brushed off further explanation. “Now, stand by.”

“Aliens study the Earth and get  _ degrees _ ?” Riley hissed to the Doctor, not believing what she was hearing. He turned around, about to answer here when a little red, spiky alien appeared. 

“And me! And me! Red Six Seven,” he exclaimed, slightly out of breath. 

“Well, take a bracelet, please, sir,” Mr. Copper gestured for one of the staff to give the alien a bracelet. 

The Doctor looked down in alarm. “But, er, hold on, hold on. What was your name?”

“Bannakaffalatta.”

The Doctor paused for a second, clearly that was not the answer he was expected. Riley had to admit, it was a rather long and unusual name. “Okay, Bannakaffalatta. But it's Christmas Eve down there,” he turned his attention back to the tour guide. “Late night shopping, tons of people. He's like a talking conker.” Bannakaffalatta looked up at the Doctor in shock. “No offense, but you'll cause a riot because the streets are going to be packed with shoppers and parties and-”

Riley saw a brief, bright blue light appear right in the middle of the Doctor talking and, in an instance, were no longer on the ship. She looked around, finding herself quite far from the ship. Right in the middle of the street in fact, surrounded by shops, Christmas lights and - 

And no people. If this was truly Christmas Eve, why are there no people? Unless they were transported in the middle of the night? Probably not a lot of people shopping at 3 in the morning, at that point you’ve missed your chance. 

“Doctor,” Riley breathed, finding the Doctor to be just as confused as she was. 

“Now, spending money,” Mr. Copper announced, holding up a card. “I have a credit card in Earth currency if you want to buy trinkets, or stockings, or the local delicacy, which is known as beef. But don't stray too far, it could be dangerous. Any day now they start boxing.”

The Doctor kept on turning, searching for anyone who might be lurking in the corner or in buildings. “It should be full. It should be busy. Something's wrong.” He looked around, trying to find some sort of explanation. 

“But it’s beautiful.”

Both the Doctor and Riley looked at the waitress. “Really? Do you think so?” he asked, looking around at the shops and buildings. “It's just a street. The pyramids are beautiful and New Zealand.”

But she didn’t care. “But it's a different planet. I'm standing on a different planet!” she exclaimed and started to walk around. “There's concrete and shops. Alien shops. Real alien shops! Look, no stars in the sky. And it smells.” She paused for a second, wiggling her nose in disgust and amazement. “It stinks! Oh, this is amazing. Thank you!” she jumped in the Doctor’s arms in excitement, giving him a great hug. He quickly returned the hug, smiling at how excited she was. 

“Yeah? Come on then, let’s have a look!” he took the waitresses hand and Riley followed, though was a bit hesitant. Only one place seemed to be open, a man sat in a little booth, selling newspapers. He looked a bit lonely, sitting out by himself, but was definitely not without Christmas spirit, wearing a bright red hat with garland on top. “Hello, there,” the Doctor smiled before glancing around the street, one last time. “Sorry, obvious question, but where’s everyone gone?”

He gave a half laugh. “Oh, scared.”

“Right! Yes” the Doctor nodded, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“Sorry,” Riley spoke up, slightly raising a hand. “Scared of what? It’s Christmas isn’t it? There should be people mingling about, shopping, being in the Christmas spirit!”

The man looked at the trio like they were crazy. “Where’ve you been living? London at Christmas? Not safe is it?”

The Doctor paused, looking at the man with wide eyes. “Why?”

Riley could see the man holding back rolling his eyes. “Why it’s them, up above!” he pointed to the sky. “Look, Christmas before last we had that big bloody spaceship, everyone standing on a roof. And then last year, that Christmas Star electrocuting all over the place, draining the Thames.”

Riley glanced at the television sitting on the man’s counter. It was a news program, showing images of those exact events. Just how far in the future did she travel? Or was it the past? She picked up a newspaper and looked at the front page. Christmas Eve, 2008. Slowly, she lowered the paper, placing it back on the pile, a bit in shock. 

“We haven’t seen each other in two years?” Riley hissed to the Doctor. 

“Well,” the Doctor drawn out, scratching the back of his neck. He was about to continue when the waitress spoke up. 

“This place is amazing!” she said in astonishment, still shocked by what she was seeing and hearing. 

“And this year, Lord knows what. So, everybody's scarpered. Gone to the country. All except me,” he pointed to himself then stood up and gestured to the television, “and Her Majesty.” They all watched the reporter announce that the Queen was staying at Buckingham Palace, showing the world that there was nothing to fear in London. Though Riley couldn’t blame the residents, sounds like London hasn’t really had a great track record with aliens. “God bless her,” the man said, saluting the queen. “We stand vigil.”

“Well,” the Doctor was trying to figure out the best way to say this, “between you and me, I think her Majesty's got it right. Far as I know, this year, nothing to worry about.”

Of course, right at the end of the sentence, Riley saw a bright blue light and in a matter of seconds, found herself back on the ship. 

“I was in mid-sentence!” the Doctor protested and Riley quickly agreed. “We were talking with a local, do you have any idea how shocked he is right now?”

“Yes, I'm sorry about that. A bit of a problem,” the guide was a bit flabbergasted, Riley could tell even he wasn’t quite sure what happened. “If I could have your bracelets.”

“Apologies, ladies and gentlemen, and Bannakaffalatta,” one of the stewards came over as the group removed their bracelets. Off to the side, Riley notice the waitress sneakily stand behind the Doctor and Riley, glad that the steward didn’t know one of their own had taken a ride. “We seem to have suffered a slight power fluctuation. If you'd like to return to the festivities. And on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruiseliners, free drinks will be provided.”

“That was the best,” the waitress smiled, still glowing from the experience. “The best!” She kept smiling at the Doctor before walking away, attending to her duties. 

The Doctor did not hesitate, walking over to hand off the bracelets to the steward. “What sort of power fluctuation?” he inquired. The stewards looked a bit shocked that the man was inquiring about the power but quickly brushed him off, stating it was perfectly normal and that there was nothing to worry about. 

Quickly walking away, the stewards left the Doctor and Riley alone. The Doctor was calculating something, staring at the stewards. “These types of things aren’t normal, are they?” Riley raised an eyebrow as she asked the Doctor. 

“A massive starliner like this? Definitely not,” he breathed, glancing around the room. “Come on,” he breathed, leading Riley away from the teleport area. 


	5. Now Voyage of Damned

“And I should know because my name is Max. The fastest, the furthest, the best.”

“Doesn’t anyone else find that creepy?” Riley asked, peering at the screen. “I mean, the guy’s eyes just scream crazy and that golden tooth? Is it really necessary for it to flash like that?”

“Different culture, differently planet,” the Doctor shrugged off. He took a pair of glasses out of his pocket and put them on before turning to the screen. “I’m sure your leather jacket looks creepy to some aliens.”

Riley looked down at herself, brushing off the jacket. This was an excellent jacket! Perhaps a bit too big, but still excellent! “Hey! I didn’t know I’d be transported to a formal event. Didn’t exactly have time to change.”

Sneakily, the Doctor used the sonic screwdriver on the screen, seemingly unlocking the frame and allowing him to open the panel. “Keep a watch, will you?” he asked, fiddling with some component inside. 

Riley crossed her arms and turned around to face the crowd. Luckily the stewards weren’t paying them any attention. “You have to explain it all to me. Why I have a vortex manipulator, why I lost my memory.”

“Maybe after I save us from being destroyed by the meteors?”

“The what?” Riley turned back away, seeing the Doctor somehow changed the screen from creepy-Max to the ship’s status. There, in bright red letters, read that the ships shields were offline and 3 red, blinking dots were heading right for the vessel. The Doctor quickly looked out the window and Riley followed suit, seeing 3 fireballs hurtling straight towards them. 

He turned back to the screen, pressing down a button on the side. “Is that the bridge? I need to talk to the Captain. You've got a meteoroid storm coming in. West zero by north two.”

“Who is this?” a voice answered.

But the Doctor quickly brushed it off, seeing the severity of the situation. “Never mind that, your shields are down. Check your scanners, Captain. You've got meteoroids coming in and now shielding.”

“You have no authorisation. You will clear the comms at once.”

“Just look out a bloody window!” Riley yelled, seeing the metroids inching closer to the ship. “They aren’t exactly hard to miss!”

“Can you come with me, sir, miss?” Riley felt a hand take ahold of her upper arm, seeing the stewards notice their meddling with the screen. The Doctor rolled his eyes, finding himself in a similar situation. Both men started escorting them off the deck. 

But being escorted wouldn’t stop the Doctor. “You've got a rock storm heading for this ship and the shields are down.” he told the steward, who was doing his best to ignore him. 

“You have to listen to him, just look at the scanner!” Riley said urgently, not believing these two men weren’t going to do anything. She started wondering where they were being taken, or better yet, if they were even going to survive the trip there. 

As they passed through an archway, the Doctor made his move. He quickly freed his arm from the steward’s grasp and took off running. Riley, seeing that the men were following the Doctor also broke free and tackled one of the steward’s to the ground. The landing wasn’t exactly soft as they both fell hard, narrowly missing a table. Riley quickly stood up, meaning to stop the second man who was still running after the Doctor but the steward had grabbed her leg, bringing her down. Another man had been called and he was soon on top of her, roughly grasping her hands and putting them behind her back. She tried to struggle but he held her arm painfully, feeling like it was about to snap with just a bit more force. She looked around, trying to see if the Doctor had gotten away when she heard him. 

“Everyone, listen to me! This is an emergency!” he yelled through the intercom system, after most likely hijacking the singer’s microphone. “Get to the lifeb-” But he didn’t get his warning out quick enough. 

Riley could only give a growl in frustration, feeling the two stewards helping her stand. But she had to make people know, they had to listen! “Look out, look at the starboard side!” she yelled, trying to struggle free without having her arm be ripped off. She looked at the patrons, trying to get them to listen but most of them just laughed it off, believing her to be some sort of mad or drunk woman. “Just look out, there are three metroids heading for this ship!” Riley was led through a door, finding the Doctor in a similar situation. Behind him Foon, Marvin, Bannakaffalatta, and the waitress trying to vouch for him. “You’ve got to listen to him!”

The four stewards led the Doctor and Riley through a service hallway, not unlike the one where Riley first appeared. “The shields are down, we’re going to get hit!” the Doctor yelled, his voice carrying over the others trying to talk to the stewards. But they were doing their best to ignore the crazy man and women. Why wasn’t anyone listening to them? How difficult was it to simply check the shields? Riley tried to not let her frustration boil over but it was beginning to prove very difficult.  

“Oi, steward!” a booming voice pierced through the hallway, causing everyone to halt and look back. Riley saw a man, one of the patrons, looking on and very worried. “The shields are down!” he yelled with a figure of authority. Oh, now the stewards are paying attention?

“Listen to him. Listen to him!” the Doctor screamed at one of the stewards.

“Just check the shields!” Riley joined in, yelling with the Doctor. “Check the shields and if they’re up, feel free to throw us off the bloody ship but check the-”

A massive sound tore through the hallway, surely heard by everyone by board, as the vessel violently shook. Both stewards let immediately Riley go, trying to find their footing in the rumble, and Riley frantically looking around for the Doctor. Machinery started to explode and Riley did her best to hang on to anything but couldn’t get a good grip as the ship continuously rocked and threw them against the walls. Sparks and smoke started to fill the hallway and the screams of the passengers added onto the horrendous noise of mental bending, snapping, and shattering. Riley felt someone roughly pull her down to the floor and she felt a great heat and light at her back, narrowly missing a fireball burst through one of the pipes. 

Then, everything went quiet apart from a few whimperings and coughs. 

Riley, with a strange sense of deja vu, felt like she’s been through something like that before. Only that time . . . well, whatever happened made Riley stick to her stomach. 

She found herself on the ground, feeling sore but carefully tested out all her limbs. Nothing was broken or sprained, which was a good sign. She tasted blood, feeling that she had split her lip, and her jacket was covered in dust and grime, along with having a few tears and snags. Riley couldn’t help but feel a little deflated over the state of her jacket. 

The Doctor was already on his feet, looking around at the state of the hallway and people. “Shush,” he said quietly, and people immediately held their breath and listened as well. “It’s stopping.”

Riley looked around, finding a few fires still burning but it was definitely not the chaotic state it was only moments ago. Groaning pieces of metal could be heard but for the most part, everything was eerily still. 

“Are you alright?” the Doctor asked, helping her up to her feet. 

“Yeah, I mean, as right as I can be for what’s happened,” Riley slightly chuckled, trying to push down the panic that was building in her chest. The ship had just been hit by three meteorites. How did they survive? How long could they last? How were they breathing?

Riley held out a hand for the waitress, who took it with thanks. “Are you alright?” Riley asked her, checking her over. 

“I think so,” she breathed, clearly shaken up by the event. 

“Bad name for a ship,” the Doctor whispered, seeing the destruction that had taken place. “Either that or this suit is really unlucky.”

“What, don’t tell me you also wore that suit on the real Titanic,” Riley chuckled, trying to get the Doctor to smile. Then, she noticed that he was completely serious. “You were on the Titanic?” Just how much bad luck followed this man?

He shrugged. “You were there too - OH! Wait no. No, pretend I didn’t say that,” he quickly said, covering his mouth. “I didn’t say anything.” The Doctor then noticed two men at his feet and Riley recognized them as the stewards who carried her out of the room. He crouched down, checking their pulse but found none, turning to the remaining steward and shaking his head. 

“Er, everyone,”  the remaining steward said hesitantly. He was clearly over his head after the event and was doing his best to take charge. “Ladies and gentlemen, Bannakaffalatta. I must apologise on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruiseliners. We seem to have had a small collision.”

But, claiming a small collision could do something of this scale was obviously the wrong thing to say.

“Small?”

“Do you know how much I paid for my ticket?”

“If I could have silence, ladies, gentlemen. Please,” he said calmly but people were still not letting up, telling him off for what had happened. “Quiet!” he yelled, finally getting everyone’s attention. “Thank you. I'm sure Max Capricorn Cruiseliners will be able to reimburse you for any inconvenience, but first I would point out that we're very much alive.” 

But Riley was half paying attention, being reimbursed would be the last thing on her mind. She noticed the waitress had gone over to the tour guide, Mr. Copper she believed his name was, who had a small cut on his head.

“Are you alright?” the waitress asked, and the Doctor and Riley came over to try to help the man as well. 

The steward was still trying to calm the passengers down. “She is, after all, a fine, sturdy ship. If you could all stay here while I ascertain the exact nature of the situation.”

He went back towards the other side of the walking, probably heading to the deck to find out what had happened. 

“Don’t open it!” the Doctor yelled. But it was too late. The door was immediately sucked out, along with the steward who had just opened it. 

Riley felt herself being pulled towards the opening, everyone’s screams turned silent as the rushing air blew past. She grabbed a piece of machinery along the wall, her knuckles turning white as she tried not to slip. But she started feeling light headed, not able to take a deep breath or any breath at all! What the hell did the man open? The Doctor jumped to the other side of the hall, finding a panel and hacked it with his sonic screwdriver. 

“Oxygen shield stabilised,” a computer voice said as the air gradually died down. 

Riley started coughing, feeling herself fill her lungs back up with oxygen. She placed a hand on the wall, crouched over as she continued to take deep breaths. 

“Everyone alright?” the Doctor asked. “Riley, Astrid?”

“Yeah,” Astrid responded, still out of breath as Riley just gave him a thumbs up. 

“Foon? Morvin? Mister Copper? Bannakaffalatta?” They were all fine, still trying to catch their breath, but fine. “And you,” the Doctor looked at the man who had just arrived. Riley didn’t recognize him but he was obviously not part of the crew. “What’s your name?”

“Rickston Slade,” the new man announced, straightening his jacket. 

“You alright?”

“No thanks to that idiot,” he brushed off, still trying to make his suit look presentable. 

Astrid gave him a hard glare, not believing the man. “The steward just died,” she said plainly, trying to make him have some sort of compassion. 

But the man just sneered. “Then he’s a dead idiot.” Astrid took a step forward, looking as if to slap him.

“Oh, so that’s the type of man you are?” Riley asked, ready to punch the man after Astrid had a go. 

The Doctor, seeing where this was heading and realizing how much stress Riley must have been through in the past few hours, tried to defuse the situation and calm both girls down. “All right, calm down. Just stay still, all of you. Hold on.” 

The Doctor went back to the door the steward had the misfortune to open, followed by both Riley and Astrid. Looking out the window, he started to survey the damage and Riley could see him deeply analyzing the situation.

“What happened? How come the shields were down?” Astrid asked, wanting to know why her employer would overlook something so vital. 

“I don’t think it was an accident,” the Doctor breathed, still looking out the window. The girls turned their heads, peering out of the window and seeing the destruction. Riley couldn’t help but let off a small gasp as she saw the carnage before her. It had looked as if a bomb exploded, the wall of the ship completely destroyed. All of the material, metal, wood, bricks, could not survive the blast, bending twisting, and snapping against the force. Outside the breach, furniture, decorations, and remnants of the ship’s infrastructure were slowly floating, along with bodies of the misfortunate passengers. In the background was Earth, the blue-white ring surrounding the planet against the dark black sky. 

It suddenly didn’t look as beautiful as before. 

“How many dead?” Astrid asked. 

“We’re alive. Just focus on that.” He looked over to Astrid, who was still staring out in space with despair written all over her face. Riley, still trying to push down the fear bubbling to the surface, realized just how bad of a situation they were in. As far as she knew, Earth didn’t have technology able to send a rescue ship and, unless super-intelligent aliens were discovered on a nearby planet, they were light-years away from a civilization that could help them. Why was she even here in the first place? How did she lose all of her memories? Is this really how she would die, with the only life she’s lived lasting less than 24 hours?

“I will get you both out of here, I promise,” the Doctor said in comfort, lightly placing hands on both of Astrid’s shoulders. “Astrid, look at me.” She took some time to look away from the outside, meeting the Doctor’s eyes. “I promise,” he wanted to show that he would protect her. Astrid gave him a little nod. “Good, now Riley.” 

She looked up at him, at a lost of words what to say. “I know you don’t know me that well,” he told her, noticing just how young she looked. “But I will get you out of here. This won’t be the last time you see me, I promise.”

Riley nodding, realizing he recognized her immediately. Then, she had to be part of his past and him a part of her future. Or the other way around, this time travel thing got confusing fast. “It’s a deal then, we survive this and I’ll see you again.” She gave him a little smile before lifting a finger, trying to appear more serious. “And after we get off this ship, you will tell me why I have this thing on this wrist.”

“Deal,” he smiled. Riley saw him slightly transform, becoming a figure of authority. “Good. Now, if we can get to Reception, I've got a spaceship tucked away. We can all get on board and-” he abruptly stopped talking, having glanced out of the window again. “Oh.”

“What is it? What's wrong?” Astrid asked in panic. 

“Oh my God,” Riley breathed, having looked out the window as well. She glanced between the Doctor and outside. “Is that the TARDIS?”

“What’s a TARDIS?”

“My ship is over there,” he nodded towards the flying debris. 

“Where?”

“There. That box. That little blue box.”

Riley deflated. She had hoped maybe it was another version or maybe it was common in other parts of the galaxy. But the Doctor’s tone made Riley realize that it was, truly, his TARDIS. 

“That’s a spaceship?”

“Oi, don’t knock it!” The Doctor scolded, not wanting his TARDIS to have this sort of treatment. 

Riley lightly put a hand on Astrid’s shoulder. “I felt the same way when I first saw it. Trust me, it’s not exactly how it appears.”

“It is a bit small,” Astrid whispered, not believing that could be a spaceship, especially compared to the ones she saw on Sto. 

“A bit distant. Trouble is, once it's set adrift, it's programmed to lock onto the nearest centre of gravity, and that would be the Earth.”

“So we’re without the TARDIS?” Riley asked, watching the ship slowly drift away. It had sounded too good to be true, simply walking inside the magic box and getting to safety. Murphy’s Law at work. “You do have a Plan B, right?”

“Of course I have a Plan B. I always think of it after Plan A doesn’t work,” he brushed off, walking back to where the others were trying to compose themselves. 

Riley stood there for a second, watching the Doctor walk away. “What do you mean  _ after _ Plan A doesn’t work?”

But he ignored the question, or perhaps didn’t hear her, and went to a computer console. Riley started to follow when she saw Mr. Copper still on the floor, holding his head. Seeing the Doctor messing with the console, she went over to the tour guide. “Are you alright?”

He waved her off. “Just a small bump, nothing serious”

She looked at the cut, seeing it start to swell. “Still, after surviving a meteor crash, dying from an infected cut is a rather silly way to go,” she smiled at him, looking around the service hallway. “Do you see a medical kit anywhere?”

“Here,” Astrid went off to the side, pulling a white box with red box. It looked rather torn apart though, visible cracks all along the container. She placed it on the floor next to Riley and opened it up. 

“Oh,” Riley breathed, seeing the contents. She hesitantly picked up a few items, trying to see if she recognized anything but it all seemed to be gibberish. 

“Are you a doctor, like him?” Mr. Copper asked her, watching Riley work. 

Riley snorted, still sifting through the supplies. “Definitely not a doctor. And the Doctor,” she glanced back at him before returning to the medical kit, “well, the Doctor is something else entirely. This just runs in the family.”

“The medical training or this sort of lifestyle?”

Riley paused for a second, trying to grasp the brief memory that surfaced but none came. She knew how to treat a possible concussion, somehow, along with a few other type of injuries but that’s all she could remember. How could you have some sort of medical knowledge but not remember how you got it? Maybe she use to be a doctor? “Little bit of both, I guess,” she smiled up at Astrid. “Though I’m a bit lost now . . . Does anything look antibacterial?”

“It should be here,” Astrid pointed to an empty compartment. “Maybe the crew used it up.”

“You don’t recognize anything, do you?” Rickston spoke up. Riley looked up, seeing the man with a small frown and crossing his arms. 

“I’m not exactly from Sto so all of them looks rather alien to me,” she hissed, not liking her tone. At least she was trying to help!

“Well that’s obvious,” he scoffed. “Look at what you’re wearing.”

“I didn’t know it was black tie!”

“Riley!” the Doctor called over, still looking over the console. “Come here a sec.”

She gave Rickston one last glare before standing and walking over to the Doctor. “He started it,” she immediately said, feeling like she was back in school.

“What?” he looked over to the group, seeing Rickston give a huff. He brushed that off, having to deal with that later. “We have Midshipman Frame here. How much has your vortex manipulator charged? Could we direct any of the power to the engines?”

“Uhhh,” Riley said intelligently, looking at the Doctor strangely. She pulled her left sleeve up and opened the vortex manipulator flap. It still looked dead, with nothing lighting up or showing that it had any hope of ever working again. “It stopped working when I arrived on the ship, or at least I think it dead.”

He took ahold of her wrist and scanned it with his sonic screwdriver before looking at the device, as if he was reading it. “Not even close to being charged,” he said somewhat deflated. 

“What do you mean close? It will work again?”

“Of course,” he looked at her strangely, forgetting that this was early on for her. “How do you think you jump everywhere?”

Riley opened her mouth, not quite sure what he meant by jumping everywhere but was cut off by Frame. “They’re cycling down.”

“That's a nuclear storm drive, yes?” the Doctor asked, appearing to be slightly stressed while calculating how they were going to get off the ship alive. 

“Yeah”

“The moment they’re gone we lose orbit.” 

There was a moment of silence, Riley worriedly glancing between the Doctor and the console. Losing orbit did not sound like a good thing, especially in the state they were in. 

“The planet,” Frame realized with slight horror. 

“Oh, yes. If we hit the planet, the nuclear storm explodes and wipes out life on Earth,” the Doctor  fully comprehended just what was at stake. It wasn’t just about saving  the remaining passengers on board anymore. 

“This ship will destroy Earth,” Riley breathed, frightened by just what was at stake here. It was like the Slitheen all over again. Was this truly the Doctor’s life?

But the Doctor recovered, much quickly than Riley could even imagine. Within seconds he was back in control, taking action. “Midshipman, I need you to fire up the engine containment field and feed it back into the core.”

“This is never going to work,” Frame answered but was still following the Doctor’s orders. 

“Trust me, it'll keep the engines going until I can get to the bridge.”

But, unfortunately, the rest of the company had overheard the conversation, knowing that the engines could fail very soon. “We’re going to die,” Foon whispered, her eyes growing wide. 

“”No,” Riley said, walking over to Foon and placing her hands on her shoulders. “The engines are still running, the Doctor will figure it out.” Though Riley couldn’t be sure if she said that more so for Foon’s or her own sake. 

But no one was paying Riley any attention. 

“Are you saying someone’s done this on purpose?” Mr. Copper asked. 

“What?!”

“We are, we’re going to die.”

“We’re just a cruise ship!”

“Okay, okay!” the Doctor put his fingers in the air. “Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush.” Everyone paused in their panic, listening to the only man who had any inclination of what to do. “First things first. One. We are going to climb through this ship. B. No. Two. We're going to reach the bridge. Three. Or C. We're going to save the Titanic. And, coming in a very low four, or D, or that little “iv” in brackets they use in footnotes, why. Right then, follow me.” He started walking away but everyone held back for a second, not believing  _ they _ were tasked with saving the ship. 

“Hold on,” Rickston protested, thinking that this man was slightly insane. “Who put you in charge and who the hell are you anyway?”

The Doctor slowly walked back, standing tall as he faced down the man. His face was full of determination, authority and strength. He then gave Rickston his answer, letting nothing unturned. “I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm nine hundred and three years old and I'm the man who's going to save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below.”

The company looked at him, half in amazement and shock. Riley couldn’t help but grin, glad that this was the man who was going to save them and the Earth.  “You got a problem with that?” the Doctor added. 

“No,” Rickston simply said. 

“In that case, allons-y!” he smiled, leading them down the corridor. 

They all kept up, avoiding any fallen beams and skirting around a few fires. They encountered a few more dead crew members along the way, reminding the group just how lucky they were to be alive. In fact, due to the state of the maintenance halls, Riley was surprised they could move around at all. Some passageways were completely cut off, debris falling and blocking any entrance or exit. Others were simply blown off, their remnants currently spinning in space. She wondered just how common these types of accidents were, not sabotaging a ship of course, but general space accidents. Would this incident even be broadcast on Sto television, or whatever they got their news on, or was space travel truly this dangerous?

They finally found a stairwell, a possible way to get up to the deck. The Doctor carefully opened the door, causing it to groan in protest and looked up at the shaft. Wasn’t the best circumstance but it looked like getting through was possible and it may be their only chance.  “Follow me,” he told the others, moving the debris behind the door and opening wide for others to follow. 

Riley followed behind Astrid, in front of Mr. Copper and tried to help the Doctor and also clear a path along the way. 

“Rather ironic,” Mr. Copper said, trying to get a conversation started, “but this is very much in the spirit of Christmas. It's a festival of violence.” Riley glanced back at him but tried not to roll her eyes. She really wanted to see what textbooks they used. “They say that human beings only survive depending on whether they've been good or bad. It's barbaric.”

“Actually, that's not true,” the Doctor stopped for a bit, looking down at the group starting to climb the stairs. “Christmas is a time of, of peace and thanksgiving and what am I on about? My Christmases are always like this,” he muttered, moving a larger piece of debris out of the way. 

“The naughty or nice bit is for getting gifts and is mainly for kids,” Riley explained to Mr. Copper. “It’s a way to get them to behave. Be a good kid, get presents. There’s definitely no killing involved.”

“And how would you know about this,” Rickston huffed, earning a glare from Riley. 

“We’ve got a Host!” the Doctor exclaimed before Riley could properly tell Rickston off. “Strength of ten. If we can mend it, we can use it to fix the rubble.”

“We can do robotics. Both of us,” Morvin spoke up from the back. 

“We work on the milk market back on Sto. It's all robot staff,” Foon explained. Riley smiled back at them, glad they the couple were with them. 

“See if you can get it working,” he told the pair before gesturing to the others. “Let's have a look.” He then started to climb up farther, leading the group up a few more flights before very large beams blocked their path. 

“It’s blocked,” Astrid exclaimed as the group came to a halt. 

“So what do we do?” he asked, looking at the metal. 

“We shift it,” Astrid said simply, earning a grin from the Doctor. 

“That’s the attitude! Riley, Rickston, Mister Copper, and you, Bannakaffalatta,” the Doctor took a deep breath, realizing how long that name was. Look, can I just call you Banna? It's going to save a lot of time.”

But the alien was persistent. “No. Bannakaffalatta.”

“All right then, Bannakaffalatta. There's a gap in the middle. See if you can get through,” he pointed at the narrow gap, hoping it wasn’t like that all the way to the top. 

Bannakaffalatta walked up to the opening, finding it to be not narrow at all. “Easy, good,” he nodded and started to climb through the opening. 

Right when he entered the space, the ship rocked again. Riley held onto the wall, not wanting to fall down the steps, as the other braced themselves against the rumble. A few more items fell from the ceiling while other pillars started to fall, opening the gap a bit more. 

“This whole thing could come crashing down any minute!” Rickston exclaimed.

“Oh, Rickston, I forgot. Did you get that message?” the Doctor asked casually, looking back at their blocked passage. 

“No. What message?”

“Shut up!” he yelled pointly. Riley couldn’t help but smile and looked back at the man she was continuously growing to dislike. He could only glare at her, not wanting to anger the Doctor further. 

“Bannakaffalatta made it!” they faintly heard Bannakaffalatta from the other end. 

“Yes, go Bannakaffalatta!” Riley yelled in victory. They still had a winning chance of making it out alive! 

“I'm small enough, I can get through,” Astrid said, walking up to the opening. She started to crawl between the beams, squeezing through and hoping it wasn’t going to crash on her. 

“Careful.”

“I’m fine,” Astrid shrugged off, concentrating on crawling to Bannakaffalatta.

“Thing is,” Riley couldn’t help but roll her eyes once she started to hear him speak. “How are Mister and Mrs Fatso going to get through that gap?” he practically yelled. 

“We make the gap bigger. So start,” the Doctor said between his teeth, handing Rickston a piece of metal. Riley was about to tell him off again but kept her lips sealed. He was really driving her patience but she wanted to keep on being a team player.  

They made good progress in a short amount of time, stacking the beams and debris against the wall. Riley could have probably fit through but wanted to help on this end since Rickston was doing next to nothing. Moving a few pieces here and there but, overall, sat there, waiting. 

She heard Foon and Morvin chatting away below, trying to fix one of those robot Hosts things. From what she gathered, they were basically robot servants, with superhuman strength and perhaps knowledge to help them out. Above, she heard Astrid and Bannakafalatta also carving a way and talking.

“I can clear it from this side, just tell me if it starts moving!” Astrid shouted down once she reached the top. 

Foon and Morvin could be heard laughing below, ecstatic about something unbeknownst to Riley. 

“What happened? Did they find a doughnut?” Rickston chuckled, rolling his eyes at the couple. 

That did it. 

Riley threw a piece of metal to the ground, the sound vibrating the stairwell. “You are getting this close Rickston,” she hissed to the man. “At least they’re trying to help us, instead of sitting there being useless.”

“The only reason we’re making the hole bigger is for them,” he brushed off. “They’re slowing us down.”

“They’re fixing the Host or was that so long ago you cannot remember?” she walked up to the man, staring him down. “Lay off them and everyone else on this ship.”

“Are you threatening me?” he scoffed, not believing this . . . this child would talk to him like that. 

She laughed. “I’m sorry, do I need to make it more obvious for you?”

“Riley and Rickston,” the Doctor interjected, stopping the fight. “Both of you keep on helping. We almost have this wide enough. Astrid,” he yelled up the stairwell, not hearing anything moving from above. “What’s going on up there?”

“I think Bannakaffalatta and I just got engaged,” she yelled back down, much to the surprise of Riley and everyone else. 

“Molto bene!” the Doctor grinned, handing Riley another piece of metal as he rushed over to a console. “Keep on going, I’m going to check the situation.”

Riley and Mr. Copper kept on working, Rickston to the point of doing less than nothing. 

“It’s working!” she heard Morvin exclaim. 

“It can help us move this stuff, yeah?” Riley asked Mr. Copper, but they were quickly cut off by yelling. 

“Turn it off!” the Doctor yelled, Riley watching him fly down the stairs to Morvin and Foon. 

“Kill. Kill. Kill,” the host said eerily calmly. It’s voice echoing up the passage. Riley’s eyes grew wide, what the hell did they just fix?

“Faster,” she breathed, practically throwing the items away from the opening. She half paid attention to the structural integrity of the passage, knowing that if they didn’t make room now, that thing would most likely kill them. 

“Rickston, get them through!” the Doctor yelled, followed by the killer Host robot. 

“No chance,” he answered, leaving everyone behind. Not waiting for anyone, he went through the gap. 

“Bastard!” Riley hissed, carrying a particularly large sheet of metal away from the passage. 

Foon quickly came up the stairs. “I’ll never fit through there!” she exclaimed, looking on in worry. 

“Yes you will,” Riley nodded, setting the piece of metal against the wall. “Mr. Copper, Foon, go through! I’ll be right behind you!”

Mr. Copper went first, much to Riley’s disappointment, but Foon went in soon after, not hesitating. She hoped they made the passage wide enough, it was now or never. 

“Give us an opening Astrid, hurry!” Riley yelled up, hoping her and Bannakaffalatta were rushing along. She moved one more piece before Morvin rushed up the stairs. “Doctor!” she yelled, not seeing him behind the man. 

“Go up Riley, what are you still doing here?” he yelled, jumping up the stairs. 

Morvin motioned her to go first and, with a bit of hesitation, went through the opening. It was tight, but not unbearable. Despite being on the slightly shorter side, definitely shorter than the Doctor, she had to crouch down quite a bit and practically crawl as she went up the stairs. 

“Now I’m stuck!” Foon exclaimed right at the end of the opening. Riley was right behind her and tried to push some of the metal away but it wouldn’t budge. 

“Come on, you can do it!” Astrid said encouragingly, though maybe jinxed the entire operation. The debris shifted, causing the exit to become even smaller and trap the lady. She gave out a yelp, stuck in the passage. 

“It’s going to collapse!” Mr. Copper said in surprise. He rushed over, just as the passageway was about to collapse and lifted the debris up with a metal bar, providing just enough leverage to open up the exit and get Foon through. Riley quickly scrambled through afterwards and, seeing Rickston look on emotionlessly, went to help Mr. Copper. She put all her weight into holding the metal bar but she knew they couldn’t last for long. The weight forcing the beam down seemed to continuously grow in size, making the debris harder and harder to hold up. 

“Rickston, damn it, help us!”

“No. Way,” he simply answered, looking on in slight disgust. 

“That’s it Rickston!” Riley yelled at the man, letting out a grunt as the ship shifted and weight was piled onto the bar. “When we get done, I swear-”

“Doctor, he’s stuck!” Astrid exclaimed, seeing Morvin not able to fit through the passage. 

“Mister van Hoff, I know we've only just met, but you'll have to excuse me,” he said quickly and Riley could see the Doctor pushing against Morvin through the cracks in the debris. 

“That's it. We've got you. Doctor, come on, get through!” she said as Morvin was pushed out of the passage and into his wife’s arms. 

But, in classic Doctor fashion, he wanted more information. “Information override! You will tell me the point of origin of your command structure!” he yelled, trying to get any clue at why they were ordered to kill them. He had to understand what exactly was happening, why would someone sabotage the ship?

“I can't hold it!” Mr. Copper grunted, his face pouring sweat. 

“You can play 20 questions later!” Riley huffed, not believing this man. 

“Information, Deck 31,” the Host answered, much to Riley’s surprise. If only they could be that responsive in their requests to not kill them!

“Thank you” he said quickly before rushing out of the passage. He looked back at the Host, still advancing towards them. “Let go!” he yelled to Riley and Mr. Copper. Both stepped back from the bar, sending the thick metal beam to the ground and crushing the Host’s head. It gave off  a small explosion, letting out a bit of fire and a great puff of smoke. It’s orders to kill was immediately silenced, the robot on the floor permanently still.


End file.
